Circles 30 Minute Overview

Editor's Notes

1. Welcome, thank you for inviting us to be your speaker this morning. I see many people in the audience who are good friends and many others who I know will be at the end of the coming year. My name is Karin VanZant, and I am the Executive Director for a local non-profit intermediary organization, Think Tank, Inc. Think Tank has been assisting non-profits in Clark County for three years now. We provide training, meeting facilitation, community convening and has the opportunity to stand back and look at a more macro-level at our community to ascertain the needs. It is through this vision or paradigm we have been asked to lead the Bridges Out of Poverty efforts and implement Circles in Clark County. Just a little history on the Bridges and Circles efforts….. OIC of Clark County was the first organization in the community to suggest that Bridges theories be the foundation for community improvements in the social service delivery systems. Through OIC’s leadership including Mike Calabrese, the Department of Job and Family Services was asked to become involved and to provide seed funding for training, certification of local trainers and establishing a leadership committee to assess the systemic impacts of poverty on the community. For two years OIC lead the charge in our community. There were 6 trainers certified, over 1500 people trained, including the police force and Springfield was asked to pilot a new curriculum to teach Bridges key concepts to low-income families. In 2006, OIC and DJFS asked Think Tank to intervene and take Bridges to the next level. At this time, there was a lot of talk and discussion about poverty issues, but there was little engagement of low-income families directly in the conversation. It was at the time that OIC, DJFS and Think Tank were introduced to Move the Mountain Leadership Center. The authors of Bridges has recently formed a national partnership with MTM and saw how the Circles Campaign could be added to Bridges Theory and really begin to address issues of poverty, build intentional relationships across class and race lines and build sustainable communities. This takes us to today…..
2. Big vision: Not reduce racism, reduce cancer. We seek not to tolerate, but end these things. Need to see poverty as intolerable.
3. The core belief of a Circles Community is that all people need the same things to thrive. They need the 3 r’s. Whether you are in generational poverty, middle-class or wealth – all people need something and have something to contribute.
4. 1) Helping model usually about professional relationships (9-5), Circles comes alongside families & offers informal, supportive, reciprocal friendships. 2) Brings the whole community together across class & race lines, 3) Works to improve systems & eliminate community barriers & 4) About giving all citizens a voice & opportunity to develop leadership skills in order to contribute to the larger community.
5. Poverty is sometimes invisible for those who have not been directly impacted by it. Our community is made up of many different people with a wealth of resources who can partner with others to develop creative solutions to community challenges & individual needs. These things happen in the context of meaningful relationships.
6. National statistics
7. What is a Circle?
8. 1) Planning Team: coordinates efforts of all work teams to ensure continuity & success; 2) Circles Team: identifies, engages & equips Circle leaders (individuals moving out of poverty) and allies (community members befriending & supporting Circle leaders); 3) Community Team: Provides logistical support & ensures success of weekly community meals, 4) Big View Team: works with larger community leadership to eliminate systems barriers & promote prosperity for all citizens and 3) Resources Team; develops needed funds & in-kind donations for Circles.
9. It takes social capital & education to build a bridge out of poverty. Social capital includes bonding capital (intimates & close friends that are supportive of ones goals in moving forward) and bridging capital (people in your life that can connect you with resources or their extended networks).
10. Bridges out of Poverty is a framework for understanding how differences in economic class impact behavior & communication. This 5 hour course creates a deeper understanding of poverty and builds a foundation for working together with people from different economic backgrounds to create opportunities for success. Getting Ahead is a workbook for individuals wanting to get ahead and move out of poverty. This workbook also includes the framework for understanding poverty, however, is designed in a way that allows the group to co-investigate poverty and the hidden rules of economic class and build plans for developing personal and community prosperity.
11. Community: mindset must change (explain in following slides), Agencies: work in coordinated fashion, be like-minded with the goal of ending poverty, ensure that structures support movement out of poverty, Policy: examples: more than getting people off public assistance, protection from practices that would exploit poor consumers (payday lending)
12. Big vision: We don’t say that we are going to reduce racism or reduce cancer. We seek not to tolerate, but end these things. Need to see poverty as intolerable.
13. Social service or government provides services on behalf of the community. Often times these services are uncoordinated. The families are still isolated from the community at large.
14. The family is central and creates their own plans to move out of poverty. A case manager connects families to the formal social service system, and to the (informal system) community at large for resources. A Circle of 2-5 allies befriend the family and engage in a relationship of mutual support. A guiding coalition serves as the leadership group to provide structure and resources to ensure that the process is working.