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.