[Pennsylvania] Summit emphasizes impact of poverty in area

from The Herald Standard

BELLE VERNON - A regional poverty summit targeting Fayette, Westmoreland and Washington counties was recently held in Rostraver Township to emphasize how poverty impacts learning, work habits and decision-making in children and adults.

The goal of the summit, according to Susan Lee, executive assistant of Communities in Schools (CIS), who sponsored the event, was to make a long-term positive difference in the community.

Individuals involved in education, public policy, social services, community development, health care and law enforcement learned how to be more effective with adults and children through a deeper understanding of economic class issues.

Lee explained that the role of Communities in Schools (CIS) is to help kids stay in school and prepare for life. She additionally said that CIS is the nation's largest nonprofit stay-in-school network that services more than 2,000,000 at-risk children annually in 245 school districts at 1,550 project sites.

"The CIS mission is to identify youth at-risk of school failure and provide them with school-based, supportive services necessary to successfully learn, stay in school and prepare for life," said Lee.

CIS was organized as a private, nonprofit corporation in 1989 with more than 23,000 students receiving specific CIS services since that time. Services are provided to students in Fayette County at Laurel Highlands, Albert Gallatin, Frazier and Uniontown school districts; Southeastern Greene in Greene County; Belle Vernon, Derry, Monessen, Southmoreland, Yough and Laurel Valley school districts in Westmoreland County; and at the Success Academy at Uniontown Mall and the Pregnant and Parenting Teen Program.

Summit speaker Jim Littlejohn of Columbia, S.C., told the 100 or so participants that in order to escape poverty individuals must understand the "hidden rules of economic class." He explained that "The Framework for Understanding Poverty," written by Dr. Ruby K. Payne is simple to understand.

"Whether we come from poverty, middle class or wealth, we think and act differently," said Littlejohn. "As each environment produces different strengths to ensure survival along with its own hidden rules, too often teachers or employers don't understand why an individual from poverty does not learn or respond as they think they should even after repeated explanations."

Littlejohn said that unspoken cues or hidden rules that govern how we think and interact in society are taught differently in different classes. He additionally said that poverty isn't just about money but the extent to which an individual does without resources.

Littlejohn explained the difference in education in each of the three classes and said that each child learns the same lesson differently. He said that poverty tends to lower childhood expectations while middle to upper income class children tend to have higher expectations placed on them from the beginning.

"More is expected of middle to upper class children by their parents because of their parents' social standing in the community," said Littlejohn. "Upper class children are taught that tradition counts and are told that certain things are expected from them because 'it is the family way of doing or handling things.'"

Littlejohn said middle class children are taught that "it's the right thing to do." While most children of poverty are generally told "you'll do it because I said so."

"All three ways get the job done," said Littlejohn. "However, the middle class and upper class children are taught the reason for doing the task while children of poverty are taught its just the way things are."

Littlejohn said with upper class families the rules tend to change if the money is generational. "If its new money then the parents are probably still operating on a mid to upper middle class level," said Littlejohn. "If it is generational money (money that has been passed down through the generations) then the rules generally support the first theory."

Littlejohn also explained that language is often a barrier between the classes and told participants to listen more carefully to what kids are saying.

He said that many children who come from poverty understand that they don't have as much as everybody else even though they have the basics such as food and housing. He said that most children of poverty are not violent, are not on drugs, have hope for themselves and understand the hidden rules of their peer group.

He also told those assembled that children of poverty often don't express themselves as clearly as children of college graduates.