By Patricia Jones, Alliance Poverty Task Force
On Tuesday, June 8 the Alliance Poverty Task Force will be hosting the national program Bridges Out of Poverty. Bridges Out of Poverty helps a community understand, alleviate, and work with those in poverty. Participants review poverty research, examine a theory of change, and analyze poverty through the prism of the hidden rules of class, resources, family structure, and language.
People from throughout the Panhandle will be hosted at the Alliance High School Performing Arts Center. The program is open to anyone, but is especially valuable for service agencies, school personnel, law enforcement, church leaders, businesses, and community leaders.
On Wednesday, June 9, Educational Service Unit #13 (ESU13) will hold a follow-up training for teachers. There is no charge to attend, but one hour of graduate college credit is available from the University of Wyoming for $50 for attending both days of the Bridges training. Email [email protected] to register; they will want your name, email address, and whether you plan to receive college credit.
Western Nebraska Community College and Panhandle Partnership have partnered with the Alliance Poverty Task Force to fund the speaker. Additional funds have been provided by the Alliance Ministerial Association, United Way of Western Nebraska, CAPstone, and Community Action Partnership of Nebraska. The Medica Foundation has awarded a grant, so future programs in the Bridges series will be available in the Panhandle over the next two years. Bridges Out of Poverty is a prerequisite to attend those.
There is a $35 registration fee, which includes refreshments and lunch, payable when you register. There are scholarships available; email [email protected] to register via scholarship.
If you didn’t grow up in poverty, you may not know that there are hidden rules that are followed by people in each class: poverty, middle class, and wealth. People think and act differently based on the class they were raised in. Schools and businesses use the rules of the middle class. These rules are not often taught and are therefore confusing to people raised in poverty households.
Bridges Out of Poverty offers a new way to view the issue of poverty and how we deal with it. Bridges offers tools and resources that equip businesses and agencies to redesign programs to better serve people you work with, build skills for management to help guide employees, upgrade training for staff, and improve treatment outcomes in health care and behavioral health care.
The ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood of moving from welfare to work, especially for those living in generational poverty, families who have lived in poverty for at least two generations.
If your business, agency, or organization works with people from poverty, you need a deeper understanding of their challenges and strengths to create opportunities for success. Register at www.panhandlepartnership.com by scrolling to Training Academy, then click on Bridges Out of Poverty, June 8 @ 9:00 am - 3:00 pm MDT. Check-in and networking opportunities begin at 8:00 am, and various agencies will have outreach tables. Get signed up today for this valuable training.