Program uses community to curb poverty

from the News Journal

Circles Initiative started in Longview, mentors residents to self-sufficiency

By CHRISTINA LANE

The federal government does not consider a family of four with a $21,200 income to be at poverty level.

In Longview, about twice that amount is a livable wage for a family of four, said Scott Miller, co-founder and CEO of Move the Mountain Leadership Center in Ames, Iowa.

Longview's Partners in Prevention is starting Move the Mountain's Circles Initiative to help poverty-stricken families become self-sufficient.

"The Circle Initiative is a new approach to end poverty based on creating a circle of support," said Holly Fuller with Partners in Prevention. "It is based on the thought of reciprocity - that everybody has something to give."

Partners in Prevention decided to bring the Circle Initiative to Longview because the city's poverty rate is 16 percent - about 3 percent higher than the national average of about 12.9 percent, Miller told a group of about 25 people during a meeting Wednesday at the Community Center.

That means 11,343 people in Longview live in poverty, he said.

"The overall intent of the Circle Initiative is to get this country to end poverty," Miller said.

The Circles Initiative is a process of building teams of community members to join a family that is working to get out of poverty.

A circle is started by a family or a person who wants to get out of poverty. The family or person becomes the circle leader. They acquire three or four allies - typically middle- or upper-class members of the community - who will help them as they move toward being self-sufficient.

Miller said he wants to start with 12 families in Longview. Those families will first have to start with a pen and paper.

"Most people don't know how much they need to make," he said.

People need a job that financially will meet their needs, he said.

"We have a system in our country that is like Monopoly - winner takes all," Miller said. "That wealth needs to be redirected into the areas that need it the most."

Through the Circle Initiative, circle leaders and allies will participate in at least two sessions each month. In the first session, leaders and allies will meet to talk about goals of the family trying to get out of poverty and plans to do that, Miller said.

During the second and third weeks, leaders and allies have the option to attend session that will bring in people from the community, such as business leaders or financial planners, to provide informational sessions.

The last week of the month is called the Big View - a day when all circles in Longview will come together to share ideas, he said.

Fuller said the Circle Initiative in Longview is funded by a $165,000 four-year grant from the federal government's Office of Juvenile Justice.

The 10-year goal of the Circle Initiative is to reach 1,000 communities, and Miller said Longview is the only community in Texas to join the initiative so far.