The Getting Ahead Initiative is beginning a week from today, September 10 from 12-3pm with a group of 13 investigators facilitated by Ryan Keiser, Caseworker and Amy Rossman, Programs Manager. The 16 week curriculum investigates poverty and the effects on individuals, families, and the community concluding with each investigator creating a future plan for moving towards self-sufficiency and "getting ahead."

We are still in need of LUNCHES. If you or anyone you know would be interested in sponsoring a lunch or a portion of a lunch for the investigators, please contact Amy Rossman via FB or at the outreach center. The workshops will be for the next 13 Tuesdays until mid-December and will reconvene after the new year to complete the remaining 3 to total 16. Thank you for your time and consideration!

Updates will become more regular as we begin next week.  :)  

WE NEED YOUR HELP WITH A LOCATION, LUNCH, and CHILDCARE ---- 

The Pottstown Cluster is beginning the second group for the Getting Ahead Initiative on Tuesday, August 20, from 12noon -3pm. We are awaiting decision of a local church to use their space but are looking for a BACK-UP LOCATION in close proximity to PCRC in case the pending location is not possible. The time includes LUNCH and CHILDCARE for the 12 investigators in the group and am looking for sponsors for both, especially help with childcare. The workshops are every Tuesday, for 16 workshops, from 12-3 but if only one or two Tuesdays work, we will be appreciative of any assistance offered!

If you or someone you know would be interested in providing space (needs to accommodate the workshop and space for childcare), lunch or a portion of lunch, or childcare from 12-3, please contact Amy Rossman at 610.970.5995 or arossman@pottstowncluster.org


 THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION!

 HOW IS TIME SPENT IN POVERTY, MIDDLE CLASS, and WEALTH? 

http://pinterest.com/pin/555139091538255156/

Bridges out of Poverty unveils the hidden rules of poverty, middle class, and wealth with a focus on understanding poverty to eliminate frustration of a culture many living in the dominant culture of middle class have not ever experienced firsthand.  Middle class systems, including organizations, comprised of middle class norms imply overall, people have inherent knowledge of such and become frustrated when one does not follow as expected.  The same is true of the hidden rules in wealth.  I was fascinated by reading this month's, July 2013, ELLE magazine where on page 136, in the Reader Advice column, "Ask E. Jean," I read the following:

Dear E. Jean:  I'm from the wrong side of the tracks (emphasis on wrong), and I'm engaged to a wonderful man.  His family is from the right side of the tracks - quite well-off.  This has never been an issue for us.  We truly appreciate and support each other.  But now he's scored an amazing, very high paying job in New York City.  We'll be moving right after the wedding and embarking on the adventure together.
                      I'm so excited!  But I'm in a bit over my head.  We're Midwesterners, and while I'm certainly not an idiot, we'll be entering a world of wealthy people - a world I'm not accustomed to.  In addition, he'll be working constantly, so I'll be navigating primarily on my own.  Any advice for a newly rich gal like me?  Are there unspoken rules for rich people in New York that I'm not aware of?
                     - Pass Go, continue to Park Avenue

PARK, MY YOUNG NABOB:  Oh, yes.  There are rules. And when Madonna and Hillary Clinton (from the great states of Michigan and Illinois) are in the Big Apple, they break every one of them.  Not to mention the laws of decorum trampled by half the society chicks with their own handbag lines.  So without further ado, here are your..

Seven Rules for the Nouveau Riche (and the Rest of Us, Too)

1.  If you're well dressed and don't frighten the cabbies, you can get away with anything in New York.

2.  Always volunteer for more charities than you can handle.

3.  If you regret anything about a posh dinner party the night before, it will usually be something you did on your "best behavior."

4.  People like to be flattered.  Never forget this.

5.  A woman "navigating primarily on [her] own" is in the best company.

6.  Stand up for the homeless and the crazy.

7. Imagine what you can achieve if you don't wait time trying to "fit in" and follow "rules."

    P.S. Hold the phone!  Just spoke with my friend Lisa Birnbach, the illustrious author of The Official Preppy Handbook and True Prep, and she says rule number one should be: "Never refer to yourself as rich."  

    P.P.S  My neighbor, the elegant Eileen Bertelli, partner at Parson Weems' Publisher Services, suggests you do what she did upon arriving in Manhattan: Spend a day with a personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman. A most excellent rule!  It's always witty to have good taste in bad taste, but never clever to have bad taste in good taste.  Good luck! 

Here we go... The Pottstown Cluster is now accepting applications for the "Getting Ahead" Initiative to begin in August. "Getting Ahead..." is a 16-workshop curriculum for individuals receiving public assistance to investigate poverty and its effects on families and the community. A meal, childcare, and small scholarship are included. Interested? Please stop by the Outreach Center between 9-12 to see Ryan Keiser, Caseworker, or Amy Rossman, Programs Manager, for an application.

For more information about the workshops, please click on the link below to read the article written by the Pottstown Post showcasing the first graduates from the "Getting Ahead" Initiative.

This clip illustrates the reality, the difficulty a person has as their wage increases and public assistance decreases. A person finds themselves forced over a financial cliff as the familiar safety net of public assistance dissolves with achievement. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNAtfgW79BM

Press release link for the Getting Ahead graduation.. 

http://www.pottstownpost.com/2013/06/17/pottstown-cluster-graduates-first-getting-ahead-class/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pottstownpost+%28The+Pottstown+Post%29

http://www.thehill.org/RelId/1131427/ISvars/default/SPC_awards_grant_money_for_2013.htm

"Food Stamp Nation" is an article that is important to everyone of us, especially those living in our community. As defined in Bridges Out of Poverty, Pottstown can clearly be described as a "pocket of poverty," reflected in the downtown with the presence of the following businesses:

*Pawn shop                                            *Fast Food
*Liquor store                                          *Check Cashing
*Corner store                                          *Temp Services
*Rent-to-own                                          *Used car lots
*Laundromat                                           *Dollar store

The link below will lead you "Food Stamp Nation" that was reprinted in The Week magazine with permission from The Washington Post.  This article additionally serves as the reality for many in our community, businesses and consumers alike.  

http://theweek.com/article/index/242615/food-stamp-nation

Sadly for me, after the last post posing the question, "Could YOU Survive?," I only received comments from my mom.  (I would still be appreciative of additional feedback.)
My mom was an educator, teaching English in a public high school in central Pennsylvania, and is currently retired.  After taking the first test, she admitted to not knowing one answer and would not be able to survive in poverty.  She passed the middle class test and answered yes to a few of the questions surviving in wealth.  She found it to be quite an "eye-opener," and additionally added, "Teachers and businesspeople need to take this test too.  Wish I had done this year's ago."
Thanks Mom!!

In factoring the over abundance of information to share from both Bridges and Getting Ahead, I will take a step back and begin with a simple question, "Could you survive?"  The following is an excerpt to put into perspective the economic lens for which you look through. 
**In after testing your knowledge, I would love to hear comments of any thoughts you had.**

Test Your Knowledge of the Hidden Rules of Class

How well could you survive?

People who grow up in poverty learn different things from people who grow up wealthy or in middle class. But most schools and businesses operate with middle-class norms, and most teachers and business people grew up learning the hidden rules of middle-class families. It’s no surprise, then, that children of poverty often struggle in education and business environments.

In her book A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Dr. Ruby K. Payne presents lists of survival skills needed by different societal classes. Test your skills by answering the following:

Could you survive in poverty? Check each item that

applies:

I know how to ...

_____ find the best rummage sales.

_____ locate grocery stores’ garbage bins that have thrown-away food.

_____ bail someone out of jail.

_____ physically fight and defend myself.

_____ get a gun, even if I have a police record.

_____ keep my clothes from being stolen at the laundromat

_____ sniff out problems in a used car.

_____ live without a checking account.

_____ manage without electricity and a phone.

_____ entertain friends with just my personality and stories.

_____ get by when I don’t have money to pay the bills.

_____ move in half a day.

_____ get and use food stamps.

_____ find free medical clinics.

_____ get around without a car.

_____ use a knife as scissors

Could you survive in middle class? Check each item

that applies.

I know how to ...

_____ get my children into Little League, piano lessons, and soccer.

_____ set a table properly.

_____ find stores that sell the clothing brands my family wears.

_____ order comfortably in a nice restaurant.

_____ use a credit card, checking and/or savings account.

_____ evaluate insurance: life, disability, 20/80 medical, homeowners, and personal-property.

_____ talk to my children about going to college.

_____ get the best interest rate on my car loan.

_____ explain the differences among the principal, interest, and escrow statements on my house payment.

_____ help my children with homework and don’t hesitate to make a call if I need more information.

_____ decorate the house for each holiday.

_____ get a library card.

_____ use the different tools in the garage.

_____ repair items in my house almost immediately after they break, or I know a repair service and call it.

Could you survive in wealth?

Check each item if you …

_____ can read a menu in French, English and another language.

_____ have favorite restaurants in different countries around the world.

_____ know how to hire a professional decorator to help decorate your home during the holidays.

_____ can name your preferred financial advisor, lawyer, designer, hairdresser and domestic- employment service.

_____ have at least two homes that are staffed and maintained.

_____ know how to ensure confidentiality and loyalty with domestic staff.

_____ use two or three “screens” that keep people whom you don’t wish to see away from you.

_____ fly in your own plane, the company plane, or the Concorde.

_____ know how to enroll your children in the preferred private schools.

_____ are on the boards of at least two charities.

_____ know the hidden rules of the Junior League.

_____ support or buy the work of a particular artist.

_____ know how to read a corporate balance sheet and analyze your own financial statements.

In the GA workshop, we have investigated the Rich/Poor Gap and the Research on Causes of Poverty. Have you ever wondered, what are the causes of poverty? Getting Ahead explores the causes of poverty being both by the choices of individuals in poverty and by systemic conditions...and everything in between. Predatory lending and other predatory practices were examined and discussed at length including personal accounts of examples of how investigators have been enticed by the ability to immediately resolve a concrete need despite the long term, financial consequences.
Income distribution in the two recent periods of economic growth from 1947-79 and 1979-2009 were investigated through exercises illustrating CEO pay gaps, income quintiles, and wealth vs. income.

The Mental Model of the Process of Change is a foundational piece of Getting Ahead. It will help investigators realize what happens in the workbook; moving people from the concrete to the abstract to create a future story. Plans and lists are essential for fruition.

Below is a reflection of one investigator's mental model of "My Life Now." This person's life experience currently illustrates feeling "stuck" in a cocoon and not having realized how "pulled in so many directions" he/she feels everyday. The butterfly on "My Life" is what life looks like when "getting ahead."

The illustration below of the larger butterfly, describes the investigator's life now in greater detail.  The butterfly symbolizes the future hope to no longer be stuck in the "tyranny of the moment" 

On the first evening of the workshop, we began by creating a mental model of poverty illustrating worries, problems needing solved, etc. (This model had been previously posted below.) 
The current list demonstrates the "Agency Approaches to Change" in our community. The first "X" represents agencies that require a person to make changes, and the second "X" shows those that help create plans for how to change (ie. treatment plans, commitments, etc.).
On the poverty mental model below, there was one profound "worry" that is not addressed by an agency or organization. How does a person know, "What will I say to my kids? How do I tell my kids...?" These questions resounded amongst the investigators and created much conversation as they discussed the reality they face as parents living in poverty.

During our first "Getting Ahead" workshop, we were faced with the task of exploring the intricacies of poverty. What are the daily issues people face who live in poverty (aka: living with few resources)? This mental model illustrates our list of concrete obstacles that prevent people with few resources from being able to think about the future. Poverty robs families of being able to plan and traps them in the "tyranny of the moment." This list represents some of the concrete roadblocks that impede self-sustainability as investigated by the group:

Introduction reposted from FB:

On Tuesday, February 26, 2013, the Pottstown Cluster sponsored the first of sixteen weekly workshops to co-investigate poverty alongside people living in our community using the "Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World" curriculum by Philip E. DeVol, derived from "Bridges Out of Poverty," written by Ruby Payne, Philip E. DeVol, and Terie Dreussi Smith. In the workshops are 11 co-investigators, including 2 facilitators, who are currently focusing on the causes of poverty and "what it's like now." Dinner and childcare are provided to give the investigators peace-of-mind to begin the process of thinking abstractly about their future plans.  

Poverty robs people of the ability to plan and has them continuously troubleshooting through crisis known as, "tyranny of the moment." Throughout the 16 weeks, we will co-investigate poverty, understanding our current situation, the hidden rules of class, discuss the theory of change, and create a future story and action steps to begin moving towards self-sufficiency.

"Bridges out of Poverty," Norman, OK

Today was the first of three full-day "Bridges out of Poverty" trainings, presented by one of the authors, Terie Dreussi Smith, to become a facilitator for our community.  I arrived in Norman, OK, after flying into the Will Rogers International Airport, Oklahoma City, OK, yesterday (Sunday).  My home for the next three days is at the National Center for Employee Development (NCED) for the United States Postal Service.  Only in the most recent years has the center offered the opportunity for other trainings to use their space to generate additional revenue.  I've met postal workers from all over the country, including Alaska, and my closet includes complimentary envelopes and mailing boxes!
At my training table, I sat amongst a parole officer from Kansas, an assistant for a Circles Initiative from Oklahoma, and an employee of a social service agency in Texas.  A few of the 90 trainees are also facilitators of the "Getting Ahead..." Initiative. 
Our training discussed a multitude of modules to understand the continuum of economic class and examples to effectively teach to community members, most importantly, those sitting at the decision-making table, the effects of poverty. 
An example illustrated the businesses that exist in the midst of poverty: pawn shops, liquor store, corner store, rent-to-own, laundromat, fast food, check cashing, temp services, used car lot, dollar store.  How many of these are located in Pottstown?  In walking distance of downtown? 
Tomorrow and Wednesday the training is more customized for the individual, institution/agency, and community we are reaching by "bridging the gap" for understanding. 
The training is similar to the information Ryan and I facilitate in "Getting Ahead.." to people who live in poverty and transform the message of the same concepts to teach it to professionals whose economic lens originates from middle class or wealth. 

I began documenting our pilot journey with "Getting Ahead..." on Facebook (FB) and will begin transporting photos and stories shortly to this site. This blog will be used for updates rather than Facebook, in moving forward, to offer access to everyone interested, despite membership to FB.   Additionally, each of the investigators have consented for the use of their work to be shared. 

I will start this blog by introducing myself, Amy Rossman.  I began working for the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities (PCRC) 4 years ago in February 2009 and began as a PT caseworker.  Two years into my employment, as the Cluster was about to move locations from Walnut Street to Franklin Street in 2011, I seized the opportunity to become the FT Programs Manager.  
After a year of being in our new location, a strategic planning programs committee commenced to explore possibilities "to help individuals make real progress in moving from dependence to productive self-sufficiency," as our mission describes.  Born from these brainstorming sessions was the "Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World" initiative, written by Philip E. DeVol.  We thank Tammy Schoonover, Director of Training, Bucks County Opportunity Council (BCOC), for her time as we met with her on a few occasions to discuss their success with the "Getting Ahead..." initiative in the BCOC's Economic Self-Sufficiency Program. 
In January 2013, PCRC offered a two-day training, "Bridges out of Poverty," written by Philip E. DeVol, Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D., and Terie Dreussi Smith, to professionals and volunteers in our community working with individuals living in poverty to understand the people whom we serve. 
From this training, we received referrals from community agencies working with individuals, receiving public assistance, who shared an interest in attending the 16-week pilot series of "Getting Ahead..." workshops that began in February.  Both myself and Ryan Keiser, caseworker, have been trained as facilitators for the workshops.