Team of community volunteers and agency representatives working to reduce poverty * workshops educate community members and organizations on the factors that contribute to and sustain poverty, as well as the barriers that low-income individuals experience when trying to move beyond poverty Circles - Program offering a community of support to build intentional, friendship-based relationships between people in generational poverty and middle class volunteers * goal is to gain a better understanding of both the valuable resources and systemic barriers that exist in our community so that people experiencing poverty can have the best possible chance to create life changes resulting in permanent self-sufficiency * Circle members also advocate for change with regard to the systemic barriers that sustain poverty in our community
Getting Ahead - Program for people experiencing poverty * involves work done in a safe learning environment, supported by experienced facilitator and co-facilitator * enables participants ("investigators") to examine their own experience of poverty, as well as explore issues in the community that impact poverty (banking, housing, jobs, transportation), providing critical information the community can use to take action to end poverty * guides investigators through an assessment of their own resources, and how to build those resources as part of their move toward self-sufficiency * puts the concepts, tools, and relationships in the hands of people in poverty to make a difference in their own lives and in the life of their community
About Us
Bridges Out of Poverty | Circles® is a community initiative coordinated by Goodwill Industries, Ontario Great Lakes that is comprised of caring and compassionate individuals who meet to share information, support, resources, meals, and friendship.