So let me tell you briefly about the Bridges Out of Poverty
premise. I do however recommend you read
the book Bridges Out of Poverty by Ruby Payne to get a complete understanding
of the complexities of poverty in America and through out the world where there
are descent economies. People with
limited resources and by that I mean money, education, social contacts, time,
actually the list goes on but I will stop with these four., struggle to “move
up the ladder” due to living in the tyranny of the moment and particularly for
those in generational poverty they never learned how to function with in the
middle class.
What I mean by tyranny of the moment is that if you did not
know where your next meal was coming from, or how you were going to get medical
attention for your sick child, or how you were going to get to work tomorrow
because your car just broke down would you have time to think about going back
to school or figuring out how much money you could put into savings this paycheck
or where you were going to go on vacation.
People in poverty can only take care of today because tomorrow is too
much to handle when today’s needs are not being met.
What I mean by how to function in the middle class is that
each class has a set of hidden rules as it were; ways that society acts that
help you be accepted. These hidden rules
span things such how to speak & dress, how you work out problems with people in
authority & negotiate and the list goes on.
Bridges Out of Poverty is a community conversation between business leaders, government leaders, upper, middle and lower classes of the community about the
challenges people in poverty have and figuring out solutions that help them
build resources enabling them to achieve financial security. To make that happen, members from all
classes must regularly come together at a table and
work though that community’s stumbling block.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you about how the Getting Ahead in a Just
Getting by World curriculum reaches people in poverty.
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