What sustains us as we struggle with the gaps in our society?

It’s easy enough to identify what some of those gaps are. A lot of them have to do with access to basic needs such as health care, housing, food, sanitation, education, and safety. At the present time, one sixth of the world lives in what the United Nations calls “slums.” From the Favelas of Brazil, to the Katchi Abadis of Pakistan and the ghettos of the United States, slums are a fact of life on every continent.

What is it that helps people to survive in spite of the inequity? What kind of creativity, problemsolving, and ingenuity are individuals and groups coming up with to change the reality? Who are the people doing the work in their communities to make it better? These are the people we shine a light on. There are energetic entrepreneurs who sell everything from watches to food; muralists and musicians; and junk men who see that nothing goes to waste. There are neighborhood elders who know all the children’s names and take the time to learn what interests them; the underpaid, overworked teachers who go the extra mile for their students; the gardeners who show others how to plant and grow their own food.

Then there are the organizations featured in our swallow section. We highlight some of the groups working right here in our community every day to bridge the gap. They work to see that everyone has a safe place to lay their heads at night, decent medical care, enough to eat, and higher education. We honor the spirit and effort they bring to their tasks. We also celebrate the resourcefulness and creativity of these communities through the aesthetic of street art: murals, drum/drill teams, Brazilian batucada music, stilting, and recycled fashion (or “trashion” as one of our participants calls it).

Lead Artists Ramón Cordes and Anne Sawyer-Aitch

Why swallows?

The swallow is a remarkably community - oriented bird. Cliff swallows build their mud nests in large groups under bridges, sometimes creating colonies of up to 3,700 homes in one spot. If a swallow discovers a good cache of insects, it emits a special sound that alerts the others in its group to the bounty. Finally, it is not uncommon for a swallow to place some of its eggs in the nest of another — the surrogate parent will then adopt the eggs and raise the fledglings as its own.

Swallows are seen as a harbinger of spring in many northern climates. The town of Mission San Juan Capistrano in California celebrates the arrival of the first swallows each spring by ringing the church bells and hosting a full day of pageantry, food, and music.

There are many kinds of swallows around the world. We chose to depict barn swallows in the MayDay Parade because of their lovely forked tail and gorgeous blue and orange coloring.

To me, a world without poverty means a world in which every person can take care of his or her basic life needs.... a poverty-free world would be economically much stronger and far more stable than the world is today.

Muhammad Yunnus, Micro-Loan Pioneer And Founder Of The Grameen Bank