On Friday evening, October 17, the Cluster held the annual fundraising dinner. I spoke to the guests to explain in more detail the UP3 Initiative and a copy of my speech is below:
Good evening,
Two years ago the Cluster outreach
center planted a seed; a seed that grows today as the UP3 Initiative,
Understanding Poverty to Plan and Persevere, and it needs your continued support
for the expansion of its roots to become more meaningful and life sustaining
for the Pottstown community. The seed represents the work of Dr. Ruby Payne, an
expert in the field of poverty to grow a successful, creative, and unduplicated
program in the community with focus on the outreach center’s mission to move
individuals from dependence to productive self-sufficiency. Dr. Ruby Payne’s work focuses on the
importance of mutual respect and understanding of people who live in economic
poverty, struggling to survive.
Two years ago I became a Bridges out of Poverty certified trainer.
Bridges out of Poverty, written by
Dr. Payne, provides an understanding to higher-income individuals to bridge the
gap struggling to understand the culture of economic poverty such as, and we’ve
either heard or wondered - “Why do the poor pay their cable bill and not the
rent? Why do they buy steak and seafood with food stamps? Get their nails done?
Not get a job?” And I’m going to ask you
to hold that for a minute.
Bridges
out of Poverty uses
tools to ultimately grow mutual respect for people who are paralyzed in the
“tyranny of the moment.” “Tyranny of the
moment,” is the experience of people living in economic poverty that is focused
on simply surviving the pressing needs of today demanding immediate responses
and leaving no opportunity to think about tomorrow. Poverty becomes self-perpetuating, in part,
because people cannot get out of crisis mode long enough to plan for the
future.
I am also a co-facilitator for Getting Ahead in a Just Getting By World,
a series of 16-workshops to investigate poverty alongside people who are the
experts – those living in poverty in Pottstown. Poverty is not defined exclusively
as material poverty but also as a “poverty of being.”
The first exercise within minutes of
starting the first workshop, the co-investigators collectively create a Mental
Model of Poverty. Each of the four
mental models of poverty that have been drawn, as we are currently in the
fourth series of workshops, includes the words Isolated, Worthless, Garbage,
Suicidal, Guilty for not providing for my children, Stuck, and Scared, to name
a few. Think for a minute about what
that feels like for someone.
No one chooses or dreams of a life
like this. So let’s go back to the
questions of why someone struggles to pay their rent but buys cigarettes, cell
phones, and cable – these are all symptoms of a bigger problem, but more
importantly a coping mechanism, an escape.
If I can go outside and smoke, I can have a minute. If I can watch a show or play a game on my phone,
I can escape and be immersed in another world.
If I have someone who is interested in me and I feel depressed and
unworthy, I am going to hang onto that.
I want to feel better.
“Poverty of being” is a major part of
the brokenness that low-income people experience in their relationship with
themselves. Low-income people often feel
they are inferior to others, existing in social isolation with little, if any, meaningful
relationships. Dr. James Comer, an
educator once said, “No significant learning occurs without a significant
relationship.” This can paralyze the
poor from taking initiative and from seizing opportunities to improve their
situation, thereby locking them into material poverty.
Both Bridges and Getting Ahead
incorporate the work of Dr. Payne, have a similar focus, and began as the
outreach center’s UP3 Initiative – Understanding Poverty to Plan and Persevere
for both the community and the individuals living in it.
The initiative is not a single focus
towards people receiving public assistance, struggling to find employment
learning to write an acceptable resume or practice interview skills but rather
a holistic approach for all members in the community to mend the divide for
mutual respect and understanding for the true reality of struggle that exists –
and not simply economic poverty resulting from only a person’s behavior and
choices. Poverty is a collective deficit
maintained by community conditions, exploitation, and economic/political
structures. In communities where you
have a “fair shot” and access to a well-paying job, good education, good
healthcare, fair credit, transportation, affordable childcare, and affordable
housing, one would have an easier time getting out of poverty.
For three hours every week for 16
weeks, a group of amazing people come together in a safe space to share a meal,
support one another, and think abstractly, as one graduate described, “The
group is similar to when I was younger and people would ask what I wanted to be
when I grow up… Getting Ahead gave me
the opportunity to remember my passion and goals before life happened. I now
have goals again and hope to reach stability with the tools and resources
learned.” Getting Ahead breeds hope and nurtures the soul to empower each of
the members and graduates to persevere through the obstacles of life knowing
they have support through each other and the outreach center. This
is especially true when graduation comes, and no one wants the groups to
end.
UP3 has been described by many as a
God-send and with the receipt of applications being submitted for the next
group to commence in February, and with your support, we can plant additional
seeds to root in the community to continue engagement and empower its members. I thank each and every one of you for your
time in attending tonight to hear the tireless efforts of the Cluster outreach
center and of the fresh and innovative Understanding Poverty to Plan and
Persevere Initiative. I am blessed to be
a part of the Pottstown community, and more importantly to walk alongside, and
empower people who live in economic poverty.
Thank you!
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