Jon Greenbaum is an organizer for Metro Justice who has been the Rochester regional organizer for the ES2 and revenue campaign.

Jon, who grew up in a family of political and labor activists, has worked at many jobs from elementary school teacher to dishwasher to house-cleaner. Jon has been involved in the Nuclear Freeze, Central American solidarity, homelessness, affordable housing, neighborhood
organizing, political prisoner defense, poverty rights, Kodak air pollution, education for social responsibility, globalization, corporate welfare etc.

The former chair of the Monroe Green Party, he worked as a produce manager at a natural foods store, helping transform the store into a cooperatively owned consumer coop. He then went to work at Wegmans Supermarket for two years and learned about the tremendous waste in the supermarket industry.

“I saw firsthand how the supermarkets put the squeeze on farmers to produce cheap food that looks good, but isn’t necessarily good for you. The culture of the supermarket was to extract the most profit out of the product. The health of the consumer and the pocketbook of the farmer were not priority issues,” Jon said.

There was a smug obliviousness about selling vegetables from all over the world with no thought about how the process results in pollution and pesticide exposure to workers that other people will have to pay for. There was no consciousness that the true price of the “item” would have to include the cost of treating the farmworkers’ diseases, the cost of subsidizing the farmers, the cost of services to the low paid workers, or the cost to the environment of pesticide and fertilizer runoff,” he added.
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”I value the ES2 coalition for its comprehensiveness,” said Jon. “ES2 connects the dots on the issues. We’re all in this together- advocates, service providers, public assistance recipients. We are a movement fighting against a conservative agenda which seeks to shrink, cut and privatize. They want to cut taxes on the rich, raise taxes on working families, create deficits and use that as an excuse to shrink government services and regulations. Then they want to privatize whatever is government-owned, whether it is our schools, social security, Medicare or our local water treatment facility. We must draw a line in the sand and protect the network of human services that took years to create.”

Metro Justice has been active fighting the budget cuts in Monroe County and creating alternative revenue proposals. “Last year we helped with a local coalition to stop Pataki’s budget cuts, mobilizing people to forums, accountability sessions and a demonstration at Toys R Us to highlight corporate tax loopholes. This year we’ve been working with the Working Families Party for a raise in the minimum wage,” he added.

Past "Faces":

Br. Michael Harlan

WELFARE MADE A DIFFERENCE- INVESTING IN PEOPLE TO END POVERTY

These are the stories of real people from across New York State who have struggled to move out of poverty with the help of welfare. Many of these individuals are Hunger Action Network members, including Board members. Their experiences, told in their own words, provide evidence of what really helps families and individuals. The Welfare Made A Difference National Campaign seeks to educate the public on the virtues of a fair, supportive social welfare system and the harmful impacts of punitive welfare policies.

Investing in people can make a difference in their lives.

Investing in people is money well spent.

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