The Alliance Poverty Task Force will be hosting Bridges Out of Poverty: Community Lens at the Alliance High School Commons area on Thursday, June 9 @ 9:00 – 3:00. Bridges Out of Poverty is a national program to help a community understand and alleviate 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.
Our group hosted Bridges Out of Poverty: Individual Lens in Alliance in June, 2021, and Bridges, Institutional Lens in Scottsbluff last October. This is the third program in the series, and the fourth program, Bridges: Policy Lens will be held in Scottsbluff in October.
Jim Ott from aha!Process, the Bridges organization, will be the speaker and program facilitator. The Individual and Institutional lenses covered in the first two days of Bridges workshops are used as a basis for the third Bridges workshop, which looks at poverty’s barriers through the lens of the community. It is an opportunity for not only information and techniques, but to put the skills we’ve learned into practice and continue the real task of building a Bridges Community. The building blocks of putting the work into action will happen at this session.
Highlights of Bridges: Community Lens include the following topics:
– Begin with the end in mind
– Engaging the community
– The Getting Ahead series and methodology
– Getting Ahead evaluation results and CharityTracker outcomes
– Staying ahead programs
– Identifying cocreators, catalysts, and backbone organizations
– Creating a Bridges steering committee
– Building awareness and finding funding
– The joy of working across class lines
– Rankism, transformational relationships, and false generosity
– Creating a Bridges steering committee
– Building a Bridges collaborative
– Criteria for becoming a Bridges community
– The joy of politics and policy change
– Overcoming political barriers
– Criteria for effective advocacy
This workshop is open to the general public and perfect for community organizers, elected officials, concerned citizens, nonprofit staff, mental health providers, educators and school counselors, those working in the health and human service industry, frontline employees and more!
There is a fee of $45, payable upon registration. The registration fee includes refreshments and lunch. Scholarships are available for students, police officers, teachers, and anyone with limited budgets. Email connor.wilburn@panhandlepartnership.com to request a scholarship.
Registration for the June 9 program is handled through Panhandle Partnership using Eventbrite. Go to panhandlepartnership.com. Under Menu in the upper right corner, click on Training Academy. Under Upcoming Trainings, scroll down to June 9, Bridges Out of Poverty – Part 3. Here you can click on the registration link and pay using a credit card. Or you can click directly on this link: www.eventbrite.com/e/bridges-out-of-poverty-part-3-community-lens-registration-266264954647. If you are requesting a scholarship or paying for a group of people, please email connor.wilburn@panhandlepartnership.com and ask him to handle your registration.
Several organizations have given the Poverty Task Force grants to help fund this Bridges program, keeping the individual registration fees at this lower rate. Special thanks to the following: Western Nebraska Community College, United Way of Western Nebraska, Alliance Christian Ministerial Association, and Panhandle Trails Intercity Public Transit.
Participation in the original Bridges Out of Poverty is strongly recommended, but not required. If you missed previous offerings of Bridges Out of Poverty, you can take an online course. Visit https://www.ahaprocess.com/event/bridges-out-of-poverty-workshop-elubridjrp-2109/ for more information. Or you can purchase the book Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities, 2022 edition, by Payne, DeVol, and Dreussi-Smith. There is a section for each of the four programs.
In this column, beginning March 2, I have been reviewing the information covered in the previous two Bridges programs, and I will continue to share my notes. You can search the websites of Alliance Times-Herald, alliancetimes.com, or Panhandle Post, panhandlepost.com, to find any articles you may have missed.
Bridges Out of Poverty programs have transformed schools, agencies, and communities throughout America. Please join us as we work to apply this research in our area.