1. Getting Ahead in a Just-Getting’-by- World Building your resources for a better life! Aha ProceSs® SSVdP: EMPOWERING THOSE WE SERVE Presentation for United Way June 14, Green Bay Diocese Marinette District St Joseph Conference Goodwill Industries of Northern WI and UP of MI
introduce our team – Investigators & Facilitators –– one introduce one and the other introduce the next

2. Getting Ahead Program Graduates:
Kachina & Brandon
Marie
Randy & Deleen
Denise
Heather
Suzanne
Kathy
Carla
Group Facilitators:
UWGB Student Interns:
Sherry Benson
Billie Kimmell
Jeanne M Harper, MPS

3. Getting Ahead is a… 13-15 session facilitated workshop
to help individuals
build their own personal plan
to get out of poverty
And create sustainability
for themselves and their family.

4. 13 Modules: Getting Started What's it like now Theory of Change
Rich / Poor Gap
Hidden Rules of Economic Class
Eleven resources
Stages Self-assessment
8. Building resources
9. Community Assessment
10. Creating MM’s
11. Closing & Transition
12. Where to Go from here
13. GRADUATION
a. final project discussion
b. presentation of personal MM
The first week is paperwork, organizational, team building and introductions. The last week is Graduation Celebration and presentation of your final mental model of your progress in class, as well as preparation and planning for the final group project
Getting Started – paperwork, organizational, team building & introductions
What's it like now
Theory of Change
Rich / Poor Gap & How it Works
Hidden Rules of Economic Class
Eleven resources Stages Self-assessment of resources
Building resources
Community Assessment
for getting from poverty to prosperity
Creating mental models (MM) for personal path out of poverty and for community prosperity
Closing & Transition
Where to Go to build personal & community resources – GRADUATION, final project discussion & presentation of personal MM

5. Positive Outcomes for Sustainability:
6 Investigator Graduates from GA 2012:
Secured employment
Reviewed Social Support System
Developed self-determination
Acquired college grants & acceptance letters
Realized her dream was obtainable with collaborative assistance
Secured employment as Assistant Manager and developed needed resources
Reviewed Social Support System - moved in with grandparents to finish college – leaving an abusive relationship and securing dependable child care
Developed self-determination, by sharing her story – moved back to area where she had previously been financially successful – leaving behind an abusive relationship
Acquired college grants and acceptance letters - both building a better future for their child; developed a secure home environment and granted custody of another child by developing a professional relationship with the Social Services Department
Realized her dream was obtainable with collaborative assistance; to graduate in August with highest honors in LPN program; offered paid position already
SSVdP for 2 years after completion of the Getting Ahead Program –help create sustainability – assisting with gas for school, water or electric, coordination of services, reference letters, etc

6. Positive Outcome from 2013 Graduates
One had her baby and was able to explore and secure needed resources - husband sescured employment with benefits
A couple were able to secure reputable Credit Counseling and Pro-Advantage program at WPS to help pay their electric bill
One created empowerment awareness - working on her GED and has her plan of action for sustainability: budget for when she gets a job to secure housing for herself
Explored financial assistance as well as Developed other resources to assist family with the birth of first child – husband secured employment with benefits
Injured at work – fight between short term disability and Workman’s Comp – lost income - Developed Credit Counseling procedures to improve possibility of sustainability - husband returned to secure employment with benefits, greater awareness of resources
Created empowerment awareness – developed a plan of action to obtain sustainability

7. Beginning Process Develop Community Awareness & Partners Site
Referrals
Costs of training & books
Weekly Gas cards per Investigator
Lunches & Snacks
Welcome bag of hygiene and paper products, notebooks, markers, pens and pencils, etc
Printing of handouts, PPT, etc.
Develop a complete PSA about the program, systemic change history, Getting Ahead background, need for referrals, lunches, gas cards ---
PSA to all local radios, tv daily newspapers and weekly newspapers
Send to Chamber of Commerce for inclusion in online newsletter and on their website
Create a Bulletin blurb - Send to all area Christian Churches for inclusion in their bulletin
Develop short Radio blurbs and tape them at the Radio Station – Facilitators, Investigators and Partners can each make a few announcements
Engaged the Community to find partners: Goodwill Industries of Northeast Wisconsin and UP of Michigan -- cover costs of facilitator training, site for course, books for Investigators and gas cards for each session;
Christian Churches and groups partnered to sponsor lunches and snacks,
NWTC & Goodwill – 2nd year partnered by offering the site with access to refrigerator, freezer and Smart meeting rooms.
Investigator Referrals come from SSVdP, FSET, NEWCAP, SALVATION ARMY, RAINBOW HOUSE – anyone working with those in need. It is a collaborative effort for referral process.

8. Three-way partnership: people in our community
Taylor & Taylor:
CHANGING BEHAVIOR
AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL…
IN WAYS THAT FIT LOCAL CIRCMSTANCES!
Three-way partnership:
people in our community
` experts from the outside
government officials
The key to building better lives is not technical breakthroughs but CHANGING BEHAVIOR AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL…IN WAYS THAT FIT LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES!
Playing an essential role is a genuine three-way partnership among people in our community, experts from the outside, and government officials
More imperative because of the relationship between intellectual capital (intangible assets – talents of people, character of relationships with customers in the community and its economic well-being).
Once we had positive outcomes after first graduation – we began the discussion with United Way as a partner – the focus of Getting Ahead met with their major goals and goal objectives – thus a perfect unity. They secured new community facilitators to be trained so that the program can occur three-four times a year for 13 weeks. The vision is to have ongoing classes during day and evening so that more investigators can benefit from the life-changing program and create & develop sustainability for their own families, as well as improving the sustainability of the community.
Each class takes on ONE local community need and develops a system to make things better for those in need in their own community – i.e. list of real resources in one place, more sensitivity in the local agencies towards their manner of treatment of those in need, creation of unique transportation programs of methods for those seeking employment, creating volunteer work for those who are unemployed – as a way to find support from others who are seeking employment and developing a process to give back while they are seeking employment.

9. Issues faced by those in poverty:
Reliable Transportation – to distribute resumes or to work
Dependable & Affordable Child Care
Laundromat tokens, Paper and Personal Hygiene Products
Financial Literacy, Credit & Budget Counseling
Medical & Dental when unemployed – Free Clinic takes 4 months to get an appointment
Disrespectful treatment by some helping agencies
Experience needed for jobs – develop way to get the exp.
Each helping agency/organization has different paperwork needed – with SAME questions
Reliable Transportation – to distribute resumes or get to work
Dependable & Affordable Child Care
Laundromat tokens, Paper Products, Personal Hygiene Products
Financial Literacy & Budget Counseling – Reputable Credit Counseling
Medical & Dental when unemployed – Free Clinic takes 4 months to get an appointment
Disrespectful treatment by some helping agencies
Experience needed for jobs – no way to get it
Each helping agency/organization has different paperwork needed – with SAME questions

11. Getting Ahead is Based on a “theory of change”:
People in poverty need an accurate perception of how poverty impacts their lives and an understanding of economic realities as a starting point both for reasoning and for developing plans for transition.
Phil DeVol

12. This class…Investigator remarks
Empowerment! Just do it!
Put things in perspective…
Mental Modules were most helpful
Put resources together
All helpful in one way or another
Easy to Understand
Interactions, discussions and class participation
Learned step by step planning…
Understand Poverty and MY responsibility…
Empowerment! Just do it!
Put things in perspective, opened my eyes to reality and what needs to be done (to become sustainable).
Mental Modules were most helpful
Put resources together so that we can START the action!
All helpful in one way or another
Easy to Understand
Interactions, discussions and class participation were the most helpful to me.
Learned step by step planning and how to use our resources – looked at all options! All was very useful!
One recent graduate wrote:
GA helped me to: Understand Poverty,
Understand where I am in the process,
became an Powerful Empowerment experience of my life,
Showed me how I am RESPONSIBLE to make change,
that Action is needed to find resources to better my own life and then to help others with my findings of my investigations.
Learned how living without an education has affected my life, job obtainment, food, health care and indebtedness.
How I kept my children from feeling or seeing the stress and worries of being in Poverty.
RESOURCES were there – but were/are “hidden” from those in poverty
I learned I need to ASK the QUESTION and looking for answers outside the box – “GA brought out of me the questions and concerns I never thought possible to be answered.”
Community Care program is there to help pay your medical bills
Job Center with Debra Stacie is there to help you get a GED
FSET and Food Share are there to help you learn to budget and make better meals – learning to eat healthy
GreenPath Debt Solutions is there to help me handle my debt
EMPOWERMENT – learning to invest in myself and others – developing resources:
Adapt
St. Vincent de Paul
Rainbow House
NEWCAP
Menominee Animal Shelter
Forward Services
NWTC
NEWI Job Center
F SET
kind, patient, positive, understanding, wonderful friends and family

13. . MENTAL MODELS…
…were used for comprehension and reasoning – “it was fun to EXPLORE without boundaries.”
Investigators were able to move from the concrete to the abstract – “it was a great exercise. “
(show the group example)Insert scans of the Mental Models Sherry Benson developed

15. Our Group’s Priorities in our MM:
Hope:
Important to maintain Positive Attitude
Job
Affordable Housing
Transportation
Adult &/or Child Care
Physical & Mental Health:
Health & Dental care
Cost of Living
Nutrition
Basic Needs
Stigma
Relationships:
Lack of Support
Stress
Systems
Legal Issues
Time:
None for Relationships, Recreation, Family, Medical or Dental appts
Spiritual:
Awareness
Development
Support

16. Ruby Payne’s Definition of Resources:
Financial
Emotional
Mental
Formal Register –Language
Spiritual
Integrity & Trust
Physical
Social: Support
Relationships/ Role Model
Motivation & Persistence
Knowledge of Hidden Rules
Investigators explain their unique awareness of Resources, they did not realize they had or that they could build
i.e. Reputable Credit Counseling – Greenpath treated us with respect
Investigation turned up all sorts of resources of which our facilitators were unaware

18. We then applied this to our MM:
Investigators found many of the local, state and federal resources for each of our areas of need in our MM
This was a surprising awareness
Created a Community Resource List for each of the Resource Needs in our Mental Model & Dr. Ruby Payne’s list

19. Facilitator’s Experience:
I became aware of my own biases in regards to poverty…(which I was unaware of before this GA experience.) The Investigator’s saw a reality of “only two classes – those who are in poverty and those who are wealthy.” …Getting Ahead program taught the investigators how to keep asking questions….(they learned to) ask enough of the right questions to get what they needed. Investigators were able to find areas within the community that could use further development to help those in poverty become self-sustainable; i.e. transportation, fair renting, medical services for the under or uninsured, and employment. Getting Ahead program was able to instill hope into the investigators – one said, “the more you ask questions, the more you can open doors, and be able to help others.”
Getting Ahead Reflection
What surprised me most about this Getting Ahead group was that these individuals resembled real, everyday, ordinary people incredibly similar to my family and myself. One of the key differences, though, was their experience in situational poverty. This program was able to help me become aware of biases I held in regards to poverty, and this program showed me what I could do to help someone in poverty.
It was often apparent that there were indeed obstacles hindering the investigators from actually getting ahead in their situation. For example, this class taught of the hidden rules between the three economic classes. These rules were exemplified when the investigators were asked to make a mental model of just what was the actuality of his or her situation in comparison to the other economic classes. What was very interesting was the fact that this group of investigators decided that there was really only two classes; those in poverty and those that are wealthy. By focusing on these two mental models the investigators were able to assess which areas of the model were resource rich and which areas were resources poor or inadequate. This depiction of economic class also resembled that a large majority of community members can be seen as in poverty because they are living paycheck to paycheck.
Some of the most intricate and heartfelt moments came when the investigators were able to express his or her feelings in relation to how they were treated when contacting varying resources throughout their community in order to receive assistance. Often the investigators would be disrespected, spoken to in harsh tones, and portrayed as a nuisance. One of the greatest tools the Getting Ahead program taught the investigators was how to keep asking questions. This tool helped many of the investigators to ask enough of the right questions to get what they needed.
Part of the Getting Ahead program focused on scouring the community and assessing areas of resources; i.e., transportation, food pantries, housing, renting, heat/utility bills, etc. By doing this, the investigators were able to find areas within the community that could use further development to help those in poverty become self-sustainable. For example, areas that need further accessibility include transportation, fair renting, medical services for the under or uninsured, and employment.
Lastly, if not the most important thing, was the way in which the Getting Ahead program was able to instill hope into the investigators taking part. This hope was seen in the gratitude the investigators expressed when he or she heard of a resource that was just what they were searching for. It was also expressed vocally during a personal testimony. One of the investigators spoke of how the program had helped her figure out that “the more you ask questions, the more you can open doors, and be able to help others.” Since our society is extremely individualistic, perhaps we should all partake in the Getting Ahead program in order to obtain an understanding of collectivity like this investigator has.

20. “We have just started the course, but I believe it has opened the door for discussions on change and how to reach change. Individuals who take the course are more aware of their need and ability to be self- sufficient and also the community has become aware of how (the Investigators) can help to make positive, permanent changes through education; how to set SMART goals that we will pursue with vigilance…the whole and the possible solutions with big business with numbers and people to back up some of the concerns. Overall, we did a good job of exposing some of the common dilemmas and starting to address them with people from the community.”

21. On Systematic change…
we covered a lot of things in class in reference to the community as a whole and the needs to improve upon from all levels:
organizations and groups, as well as individuals...
to create a unified force
And a goal for change in our community.