The PLAN for Pittsburg

By Cale Chapman

PITTSBURG, Kansas—A new community action group is working to support the community is by advocating for programs and policies that can combat poverty.

The Pittsburg Lateral Aid Network, or PLAN, is a community action group dedicated to maintaining a network of mutual aid and providing immediate assistance to people in need.  Members of the aid network have attended city meetings and have reached out to community members on Facebook. Some of the changes that members are advocating for in these spaces are expanded transportation access with proper bus stops, a permanent overnight shelter, expanded low-income programs and social housing.

“I want to bring people who have experienced hardship and poverty firsthand, to the decision-making table,” Shane Adcock, a PLAN organizer, said. “I’d like to see more transitional housing, a mental health and substance abuse shelter, an emergency shelter of any sort, just to start.”

The PLAN was formed during February 2021’s polar vortex when citizens saw there was need for an emergency cold shelter in Pittsburg. As the temperature dropped, individuals without shelter or adequate housing struggled to survive. The PLAN approached city officials about a combined service effort.

“We had kind of established our mutual aid group, we wanted it to be a place where people can just help each other out,” Adcock said. “But we realized that there’s this huge winter storm coming in at the time, and we know now that it was record breaking low temperatures, we knew that there was no emergency shelter anywhere, there were no warming stations.”

The PLAN set up and operated an emergency shelter in Pittsburg’s Lincoln Center for two days in February 2021. In addition to providing a place to escape the cold, the emergency shelter acted as a donation site where the community could donate items like cots, sleeping bags, hygiene equipment and non-perishable food to be distributed to those staying inside.

“Our primary goal was obviously to help shelter unhoused people since Pittsburg does not have a shelter,” Erin Kruse, another organizer with PLAN, said. “We also helped in emergency cases where people’s heaters had gone out, pipes froze, etc.”

After the emergency shelter closed, the aid network continued to provide support throughout the community. During the remainder of the vortex, individuals that had used the shelter still needed help.

“We continued to raise money so that we could put people up in hotel rooms because it was still freezing cold outside,” Adcock said, “and that continued for almost two months.”   

According to Adcock, one challenge that the PLAN is facing in turning their efforts into permanent solutions is public support.

“There are a lot of people in Pittsburg who absolutely do not want that,” Adcock said. “They’re going to oppose us every step of the way. So, I think the city’s willing to help, if the public will, is there.”

In pursuing reforms, the PLAN has facilitated services that the city does not provide. This comparison is something Kruse thinks is a service in itself.

“I think one thing that PLAN is offering is, like, a mirror and a window to what’s not here and why isn’t it here yet,” said Kruse. “I don’t know that those who are making decisions are really in touch with parts of our community that are fully underserved and at risk for various things, how much of their input are they fully getting?”

Although the lack of public support in Pittsburg poses a large problem for the PLAN, their biggest obstacle expands beyond their immediate community.

“The biggest obstacle that we face is changing the narrative,” Adcock said. “There’s this just widespread cultural narrative that people who are poor are poor because they made bad decisions, and I’m a firm believer that poverty is not a lack of character, it’s a lack of cash.”

Kruse said the best way to support the PLAN is to help them get more exposure in the community they serve.

“Getting PLAN’s name and mission out there so that people are able to help and be helped is always key,” Kruse said. “If people can spare some resources to redistribute that’s how we get the most impact to anyone we’re trying to help. Anyone who wants to organize alongside us, we’re always in need of help.”