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, 2013
GREEN BAY DIOCESE
MARINETTE DISTRICT
ST JOSEPH CONFERENCE
GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTHERN WI AND UP OF MI
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

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.
13 MODULES:
1. Getting Started
8. Building resources
2. What's it like now
9. Community Assessment
3. Theory of Change
10. Creating MM’s
4. Rich / Poor Gap
11. Closing & Transition
5. Hidden Rules of
12. Where to Go from here
Economic Class
13. GRADUATION
6. Eleven resources
a. final project discussion
7. Stages Self-
b. presentation of
assessment
personal MM
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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…
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. “
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
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
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
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.”
“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 selfsufficient 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.”
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.