Grassroots and Groundwork

Each of the 70-minute presentations highlighted a unique proven or emerging model or advocacy initiative, with a focus on how others could replicate these efforts in their own poverty-reduction work.

Conference attendees had a chance to attend their choice of four of the 20 sessions offered. Now they, and all others committed to reducing poverty and building prosperity, can access the webinars – free of charge.

Building Public-Private Partnerships to Create Workforce Opportunity
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Duluth at Work
Duluth, MN

City investment, foundation support and private sector commitment serve as cornerstones for Duluth at Work projects, helping to increase individual income, grow neighborhood businesses and support low-income entrepreneurs. By creatively pairing public and philanthropic funding, Duluth at Work tailors each project to a specific group of participants, offering opportunities for long-term employment success and comprehensive business planning, all while addressing barriers to success.

Presenter:
Emily Larson – coordinator, Duluth at Work

“Buy Local" Campaigns to Create Sustainable Communities
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Umpqua Community Development Corporation
Roseburg, OR

American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA)
Bozeman, MT

Local entrepreneurs, co-ops and community organizations are most successful when they work together – especially when creating buy-local campaigns and advocating for policies that facilitate and nurture homegrown businesses. Independent Business Alliances (IBAs) support these collaborative efforts. Think Local Umpqua is a successful IBA that combines rural entrepreneurship with a buy-local campaign to promote economic vitality.

Presenters:
Leslie Brislen – Micro Enterprise Development & Learning (MEDAL) program manager, Umpqua Community Development Corporation; Jeff Milchen – outreach director, AMIBA

 

Coaching Techniques to Build Self-Sufficiency in Underserved Markets
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Burst for Prosperity
Renton, WA

Puget Sound Welcome Back Center
Des Moines, WA

Burst’s career coaching helps front-line social service providers empower clients to look inward for assets they can combine with community resources to achieve their dreams. The Puget Sound Welcome Back Center incorporated career coaching into their case management model to help skilled immigrants navigate the U.S. licensing process to re-enter their professions, regain professional identity and achieve financial independence.

Presenters:
Diana Dollar – associate director, Burst for Prosperity; Fran Fisher – master certified coach, FJ Fisher Coaching and Consulting; Kris Mason – director, Puget Sound Welcome Back Center

 

Combating Predatory Lending With Innovative Workplace Solutions
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Rubicon National Social Innovations
San Francisco, CA

This employer-sponsored lending and financial education program helps workers emerge from financial debt traps and build positive credit. Credit built through loan payroll deductions gives working low-income people access to mainstream financial services. Financial institutions gain a profitable and risk-mitigated approach to making small-dollar loans; employees gain financial education, affordable financial services and credit building.

Presenter:
Jonathan Harrison – director, Rubicon National Social Innovations

 

"Cultural Entrepreneurship": How Cultural Assets Create Business and Jobs
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Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship (GCCE)
Santa Fe, NM

Entrepreneurial ventures, especially for low-income individuals and people of color, are more likely to succeed if they tap into New Mexico’s abundant cultural resources. GCCE has developed a promising model that creates a local network of policy leaders, mentors, cooperative art spaces and economic-development practitioners to foster businesses that are built on existing resources, assets and abilities in rural communities.

Presenter:
Christy Snyder – independent anthropologist, GCCE

 

Effective Advocacy Campaigns Through Cross-Cultural Collaboration
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Native American Youth and Family Center
Portland, OR

Three culturally distinct nonprofit community development organizations established the Housing Organizations of Color Coalition. They focus on action plans related to the housing needs, aspirations and challenges faced by African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. Historically, these groups approached their issues in isolation and often in competition with one another. Now, as a coalition, they provide a strong, united voice with policymakers.

Presenter:
Rey Espana – director of housing, employment and community development, Native American Youth and Family Center

 

Empowering Domestic Violence Survivors to Create Assets and Wealth
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Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Chicago, IL

The Shriver Center identifies, develops and supports creative and collaborative approaches toward social and economic justice for low-income people. One unique local initiative brings together a community bank and a domestic violence organization to provide financial education, individual development accounts and small-dollar loans to domestic violence survivors. These financial tools put survivors on a path to self-sufficiency.

Presenters:
Andrea Kovach – staff attorney, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; Casandra D. Slade – vice president/CRA officer, Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company

Facilitating Successful Re-entry With Entrepreneurship
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Mercy Corps Northwest
Portland, OR

Women who have been released from prison often struggle to find employment. They are impoverished and unable to afford housing, transportation or health care. An integrated program is vital to their successful reintegration. Mercy Corps combines a microenterprise/life-skills curriculum with a one-stop transition center and a coalition of re-entry support services to teach ex-offenders finance, business planning and interpersonal communications.

Presenters:
Doug Cooper – assistant director, Mercy Corps Northwest; John Haines – executive director, Mercy Corps Northwest

 

Feminism and Poverty: New Directions in Advocacy and Public Policy
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Child and Family Policy Center (CFPC)
Des Moines, IA

CFPC re-examined the “feminization of poverty” that spurred significant past policy reforms. Its report reveals women are at a higher risk of poverty due to increased single parenting, decreased earnings for less-educated workers, and reduced support through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Now is the time to mobilize a new movement against poverty on the basis of gender equity.

Presenter:
Charles Bruner – executive director, CFPC

 

Grassroots Advocacy to Improve Direct-Care Jobs
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Paraprofessional Health Institute (PHI)
Bronx, NY

Iowa CareGivers Association (ICA)
West Des Moines, IA

Direct care is one of the fastest-growing health care occupations, but workers typically earn low wages and lack health coverage. PHI and ICA weave together interventions in policy and practice to reduce poverty for direct-care workers. Their advocacy, research, public education and technical assistance efforts aim for workforce stability, a stronger economy and improved care. 

Presenters:
Di Findley – executive director, ICA; Ben Freeman – development director, PHI; Cindy Ramer – certified nursing assistant, Direct Care Worker Leadership Council, ICA

 

Innovations in Integrating Credit With Financial Support Services
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Express Advantage
Seattle, WA

This unique partnership integrates access to capital with financial support services. Credit union staff bring “the bank” to wherever their members currently receive other services. At the same time, a nonprofit organization reaches out to clients with credit union information, and incorporates financial education and counseling into their case management services. Low-income, formerly unbanked people gain financial knowledge and skills.

Presenter:
Dave Sieminski – managing director, Express Advantage, Express Credit Union

 

Innovations in Job Training and Workforce Development Programs
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NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO)
New York, NY

CEO is breaking new ground in fighting poverty with (1) Community Partners Initiative – connecting low-income, job-ready clients of community organizations with job openings at city career centers; (2) NYC Justice Corps – supportingformerly incarcerated 18- to 24-year-olds with work readiness, community service, internships, job placement and post-placement support; and (3) Jobs-Plus – offering employment-related services at public housing developments.

Presenters:
David Berman – senior advisor, NYC CEO; Lakythia Ferby – center director, Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center; Ali Knight – director, NYC Justice Corps, Prisoner Reentry Institute|John Jay College of Criminal Justice

 

Making Green Jobs Work for Low-Income Families
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Isles’ Center for Energy and Environmental Training (CEET)
Trenton, NJ

Will low-income people find work in the “green economy”? The field of energy- and environmental-related jobs is flourishing. Isles has developed a nationally recognized program to give un- or under-employed residents a shot at landing these living-wage jobs. CEET provides green job training and a career path through collaboration with employers, labor, government, education and community-based organizations.

Presenters:
Martin Johnson – president and CEO, Isles’ CEET; Jeanne Oswald – vice president, Isles’ CEET

 

Making Public Investments Create Jobs for Low-Income Workers
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HIRE Minnesota
Twin Cities Metro Region, MN

HIRE Minnesota is a coalition of 70+ organizations. Its legislative advocacy efforts cross racial, cultural, geographic and issue boundaries to champion the interests of low-income people. The coalition ensures that decision-makers explicitly use public investments in renewable energy and infrastructure industries to lift people out of poverty. It also serves as a watchdog to make sure that state agencies meet their goals for hiring and training people of color.

Presenters:
Louis King –  president, CEO and HIRE Minnesota coordinator, Summit Academy OIC; Patrick Ness – public policy manager, Catholic Charities of St. Paul & Minneapolis; Alessandra Williams – HIRE Minnesota coordinator, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability

 

Providing Affordable and Healthy Food in Rural Communities
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Center for Rural Affairs
Lyons, NE

Unstable incomes, out-migration, unreliable transportation and lack of full-service grocery stores contribute to declining food access and poor health in rural communities. The Oregon Food Bank, Kansas State University and the Center for Rural Affairs teamed up to address these challenges. They offer models for successful rural grocery store ownership and ways to engage community members in policy advocacy concerning food access. 

Presenters:
Steph Larsen – lead rural organizer, Center for Rural Affairs; David Proctor – director, Center for Engagement and Community Development, Kansas State University; Sharon Thornberry – community resource developer, Oregon Food Bank

 

Public Markets: Catalyst for Immigrant and Minority Entrepreneurship
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Latino Economic Development Center
Minneapolis, MN

 Neighborhood Development Center
St. Paul, MN

Low-income entrepreneurs – in any community – can achieve their dreams and transform economically depressed neighborhoods if offered the appropriate tools. One highly acclaimed example is Mercado Central, a flourishing Latino revitalization effort in Minneapolis. Mercado Central integrates community organizing with microbusiness and real estate development to generate sales in excess of $5 million per year for 45 tenants.  

Presenters:
John Flory – special projects director, Latino Economic Development Corporation; Mike Temali – CEO, Neighborhood Development Center

 

Successful Entrepreneurship Development in Native Communities and Beyond
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Oweesta Corporation
Rapid City, SD

The Native Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Development (NEED) initiative is tailored for Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and their partners.  NEED provides training and technical assistance to help communities develop effective enterprise and entrepreneurship systems. This program embraces and works with the culturally based nuances of developing businesses in Native communities.

Presenters:
Tracey Fischer – president and CEO, First Nations Oweesta; Kellie Jewett – director of enterprise and entrepreneurship development, First Nations Oweesta

 

Using Social Media to Support Entrepreneurship in Rural Communities
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Rural Learning Center
Howard, SD

Social networks open the door for rural communities to connect with people locally and beyond, helping to build relationships while encouraging and nurturing entrepreneurship. Facebook, Twitter, Ning and blogs are online technology tools that can break down physical and geographic barriers to advance community engagement efforts and defeat rural isolation.

Presenters:
Lindsey Karlson – community outreach, Rural Learning Center; Mike Knutson – consultant, Rural Learning Center

 

Your Public Policy Tool Kit to Reduce Poverty
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Strategies to Eliminate Poverty (STEP)
Seattle, WA

STEP’s Tool Kit for States offers information, policy objectives, and tools and strategies to improve each state’s well-being. The kit describes and compares each state’s policy structures around health, education, child care, workforce development, food, housing and assets. It includes strategies that organizations and coalitions can use to improve state economic security. The STEP Tool Kit is a crucial step toward effective action in poverty reduction.

Presenters:
Greg Boris – senior policy and program specialist, South Dakota Voices for Children; Annette Case – consultant, STEP; Jeff Chapman – research director, Washington State Budget & Policy Center

 

Youth Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship Education
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Four Bands Community Fund
Eagle Butte, SD

Most children are taught to read and write early on, but they’re not taught the basics of finance. Making Waves is a youth-focused financial literacy and entrepreneurship program. It works in partnership with schools, community organizations, businesses, government agencies and the media to help youth as young as 5 manage their money and create their own jobs so they can one day become self-sufficient adults.

Presenters:
Nicole Seaton Fiddler – marketing and development coordinator, Four Bands Community Fund; Donita Fischer – youth program and partnerships coordinator, Four Bands Community Fund