[US] Breaking the grip of poverty

from The Bonner County Daily Bee

By MARLISA KEYES
Staff writer

Circles Initiative forms to help residents

SANDPOINT -- Poverty in the United States can be eliminated in two or three generations, it just takes capable leaders committed to that goal.

That is the main message of Scott Miller, chief executive officer of Move the Mountain Leadership of Ames, Iowa. Miller, who met with Bonner County community leaders earlier this month, is assisting Bonner County Circles Guiding Coalition and its lead agency, Community Action Partnership, with a local Circles Initiative.

"We believe all people need sufficient money, relationships and meaning in their lives to thrive," Miller said.

The community-based initiative is designed to move people from poverty to middle class by pairing them with moderate income people in "circles" relationships that expose them to middle class thinking regarding economics, he said.

A "different set of hidden rules" exists in each class, with those in poverty thinking about today, while the middle class focus' is on tomorrow, Miller said.

He quoted a book written by Dr. Ruby Payne about people how people living in marginalized situations must learn to create new and different relationships to move out of poverty.

Miller said the public needs to understand those trapped in poverty are not lazy people who don't want to work, but instead are working class citizens who may have trouble getting to work on time or at all because they own an unreliable vehicle, or are spending 50 percent or more of their take home pay on rent.

"It's important to remember that these are members of our community that are playing by the rules and they're not making it," said Shirley Paulison of Community Action Partnership.

One CAP missions is to educate middle to high income people about those living in poverty. The problem with government-led programs is that people assume the needs of the poor are being addressed, said one organizer. People often are in denial about poverty, too.

"I think we all distance ourselves from things that we're uncomfortable with," said Paul Graves, a former minister and coalition member.

Poverty is a constant drain for low income people, he added.

"What are very simple things for a lot of us become almost insurmountable for people without financial or emotional resources," Graves said.

How it works

Guiding Coalition members are putting support mechanisms in place so that its first six members will receive the help they need to move out of poverty. They have decided not to activate the Circles groups within a specific deadline until those measures are in place.

"We want the first group of circles to be as successful as possible," Graves said.

The organization will then begin accepting applications for Circles leaders (those in poverty), who will have to go through a screening process before being accepted. Each person will be paired with two or three middle income people who will help them identify what keeps them in poverty and tools to change their situation.

It is important that Circle leaders and volunteers understand that the initiative mission is one of reciprocity, meaning that "they are expected to be active in the community, in big or small ways, Paulison said.

"They don't feel like they have anything to contribute, but they're wrong."

Move the Mountain has Circles Initiatives in 42 locations in the United States. The original project began with the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Making Connections Initiative.