"Act on Poverty - Conversations on Poverty"

We have a wonderful opportunity to participate in a conversation on poverty here in the Northern Neck. The description of the program that follows came directly from Kathleen Watson, Extension Agent for Northumberland and Lancaster Counties and one of the facilitators of this conversation.

"If you had just two minutes with the Governor or another elected officials, what would you recommend to reduce poverty, and why?"

On Saturday, July 18, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, Virginians will have a unique opportunity to pitch their solutions to this question in their localities and statewide. Northern Neck residents are invited to "Act on Poverty - Conversations on Poverty" at Rappahannock Community College's Warsaw Campus, located at 52 Campus Drive, Warsaw, VA. The program will take place in the lecture hall.

In one of the largest-ever, simultaneous conversations devoted to the issue of poverty reduction, attendees are encouraged to recommend specific strategies for the Commonwealth's Poverty Reduction Taskforce and local and state officials to consider. Virginia Cooperative Extension agents Marilyn Morris and Kathleen Watson will facilitate the Act on Poverty conversations in Warsaw. http://www.hhr.virginia.gov/povertysummit/

All concerned citizens are invited and encourage to attend. The event is free and pre-registration is not required.

For additional information, contact:
Kathleen D. Watson, MSG
Extension Agent
Family and Consumer Sciences
Northumberland and Lancaster Counties
Virginia Cooperative Extension, Northumberland Office
P. O. Box 400
Heathsville, VA 22473-0400
804.580.5694
Fax: 804.580.9568
kdwatson@vt.edu

I will be attending and hope that other members and followers of Visions: Building Assets and Community will be there as well. Thanks, Kathleen, for letting us know about this exciting opportunity.

Check out the Make a Difference blog!

The Local Accent is a website offering a comprehensive business directory for the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula as well as local weather, obituaries, and a very inclusive community calendar of all sorts of events. They also host a number of specialty blogs. The Make a Difference blog is devoted to news from charitable and nonprofit groups in the area. To see the VISIONS conference article and picture there, visit http://www.thelocalaccent.com/blogs/difference.php

Another wonderful source of information is connectRappahannock, whose mission it is to "strengthen communities by connecting people to ideas, information, and each other." Director Cindy Balderson has been working hard to help us establish a specialty email list addressing the issue of poverty. Lindsy Gardner, Cindy, and I collected email addresses for that list at the conference and in the days following it. If you have not joined connectRappahannock as a subscriber, please do! It's very informative and interesting and it's a good way to keep up with what is going on in the Northern Neck. To see the article that Cindy posted on the VISIONS conference, go to http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs059/1101514472518/archive/1102604397685.html

We seem to making some headway on getting the word out about VISIONS and its mission, so pass the word on all these great communication and public relations tools.

What comes next?

On Thursday, June 11th, a number of us got together to discuss the conference and consider the next steps.

Some of the positives that were expressed included the value of hearing that this process takes time and that people will phase in and out, the great outcome of small group discussions, the significant collection of information that took place at the conference, and the importance of identifying a core group of committed individuals. Some of our concerns going forward are the need to diversify and involve more people, keeping up the momentum of the process started by the conference, and identifying ways to apply the ideas and information that we gained.

As has been mentioned before, no one wants to lose sight of the housing study and all that it revealed. It was suggested that it might be more productive to think of the housing study in broader terms, as a source of data or as an economic development tool.

Rev. Edward King filled us in on some of the ongoing duPont Fund activity in the region. Lancaster Partners for Education, through the Morattico Baptist Church, have submitted a proposal for workforce housing that has been invited for final review. DuPont has also funded a planning grant to St. Mary's at Fleeton in Northumberland County for rental housing. Rev. King emphasized the need for VISIONS to take a regional approach, including Richmond and Westmoreland County, and to encourage collaboration between counties and investors.

We discussed the potential value of working with Bay Aging in their new capacity as a Community Action Program.

The importance of strengthening non-profit involvement was another point that was made. Tom Gosse shared that the Wiley Foundation is working very hard to bring a program targeting preschool/prekindergarten children called Smart Beginnings to the area. It will hopefully become a key piece of the education and early childhood strategy.

We will continue to try to keep people informed of the work of VISIONS as we go along. There are any number of ways to do that, either by press release, blog, or email. There was an article in the Rappahannock Record on the conference yesterday, 6/18/09, and a wonderful article on connectRappahannock last week. Cindy Balderson is on board to help us set up a special email list through connectRappahannock as a working communication tool for those interested in contributing to the conversation or keeping up through an email list.

Check out connectRappahannock at this link:
http://www.connectrappahannock.org/

Gwen Whiting, one of our consultants and facilitators, will be leading us through a process of generating greater involvement, a curriculum called Study Circles. It is designed to generate community-wide conversations around a particular topic. In our case, the topic is poverty. As we noted last week, the people at the conference were not necessarily the folks who would benefit directly from building assets and community. Our challenge is to spread the word about VISIONS and our goals to all sectors of the community to lay the foundation for a successful Study Circles program. We hope to be ready to begin them by September.

We'll let everyone know when the orientation for that will be taking place. In the meantime, some of the small groups in the conference have expressed a desire to continue their conversations. One of these, led by Leslie Franklin, would like to tackle the "everyone on the same page" communication piece. We will also continue to explore resource mapping to see what is already in place and how we can coordinate those services. Those people who were on our conference directory list should have received an email from Lindsy Gardner making many of these same points.

This summer, duPont has funded a Summer Employment Network grant, administered through the Lancaster Community Library and Rappahannock Community College. I'll hope to post some information on how that's going later.

Thank you to all our participants for your wonderful efforts! We applaud your willingness to tackle this difficult issue and look forward to the work ahead.

Open-Space Conversations

Finally, at the end of a productive day of great work, Gwen and Jean encouraged those people who were interested in continuing the conversation to stay from 3:15 to 5:00 or to come to the Lancaster Community Library the next day, Thursday, June 11th, at 9:00.

One of the guiding principles of the Open-Space Conversations is that whoever comes are the right people. Quite a few people indicated a willingness to stay that afternoon. They were interested in discussing the recent designation of Bay Aging as a Community Action Program. We were lucky enough to have Kathy Vessely-Massey from Bay Aging with us.

The following summary is courtesy of Lindsy Gardner:

Kathy explained that they had been pursuing CAP designation for some time and were awarded it in May of this year. It will take effect on July 1 and they will receive several hundred thousand dollars in one-time stimulus money to establish the agency and conduct programming. George Morris has agreed to serve as interim director of the CAP. Currently, they are looking for a Development Director who would write grants and seek resources to continue operations once the stimulus money has been expended. When Bay Aging got word that they were going to receive CAP designation, they sent a memo out to local governments, schools, and social service agencies in the eight county area asking for ideas for programming for the summer. Because of the overwhelming response from localities, Bay Aging decide to fund an internal suggestion - a Work Ethics Camp. The concept of the camp begins with recruiting interested children ages 12-20 who meet income and secondary barrier requirements. These children will be guided by Team Leaders for certain geographic areas to do volunteer work for local individuals or businesses. As the children accrue volunteer hours, they also qualify to attend a camp of their choice over the summer. In the future, the CAP will be required to do a community assessment to determine needs and resources in the community. This information will be used to develop future programs.

Kathy went on to describe other programs currently offered by Bay Aging that will benefit from stimulus money including weatherization programs, in-home care programs, Meals on Wheels, to name a few. Bay Aging has also constructed elder housing in Lancaster County, as well as other sites in their service area.

Thank you, Lindsy, for your great notes! We hope that some of the action strategies that come out of the conference conversations and future meetings can dovetail with Bay Aging's initiatives in some way.

Several people also found their way over to Lancaster Community Library the next morning. One point they wanted to share was that we will need to "make the case" or develop a clear and consistent message that communicates how people will benefit. They also felt it was important to know what assets and resources we have in the community so we can leverage what we have. Finally, they felt it was important to raise expectations, starting with upper elementary and middle school students.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting some of the ideas that came out of the follow-up meeting of the Visions steering committee on Thursday, June 11th.

Selected thoughts from report outs in the afternoon

After the small group sessions in the early afternoon, each group reported out on the results of their discussions to the group at large.

Group 1 had the theme of involving everyone. Some of their suggestions were that "everyone reads off the same page" and that a PR campaign would be a good way to begin outreach. They thought we should focus on three target areas, individuals or organizations, government agencies and judicial/legal, and the business community. Their brainstorming of groups to target for outreach resulted in an impressive list of individuals and groups, too long to list here, representing some great group work in identifying community resources. Just a few highlights from that list include Boys and Girls Clubs, Habitat, the Ministerial Association, YMCA, food banks, health care providers, county social services and health departments, schools, extension offices, and Chambers of Commerce.

Group 2 was supposed to be the data group, but no one joined that one. As a side note from other discussions, these points were made:
Data can be used to make the case.
Infant mortality rates, low birth weight are important issues.
Prenatal care as an entry point for intervention?

Group 3 reviewed the work of VISIONS in the past and the three-prong approach that was suggested. They felt strongly that the Housing Study completed and presented in March, 2009, had continued merit for use going forward, but that it would need to be condensed or abstracted or some of the information would need to be pulled out for specific use. The key point was that improving housing options would help people out of poverty. The Housing Task Force hopes to meet soon to accomplish some of these goals. In education, the focus of the group was on attracting and retaining teachers and creating programs to increase student success and persistence. The third prong, leadership training, was envisioned by this group as being aimed at young professionals, creating a support network and engaging them with the community.

Group 4 tackled a tough subject, but one that all agreed needed to be addressed - racial and cultural divisions. They were interested in looking back on what came out of the CRS racial diversity study, getting data on the rising Hispanic population, and getting truly poor people in the dialog and giving them a voice. They discussed socioeconomic differences in both black and white races as a divider. They envisioned ways to identify bridge people and bring more people together. This group, I believe, hopes to get together soon after the conference to continue their conversation.

Group 5's theme was jobs, economy, training and mentoring. They identified as problems lack of information, difficulty with zoning ordinances, difficulty in finding qualified employees, low expectations, and the lack of job diversity. This area heavily leans in the direction of a service economy. There are programs currently in place that address some of these issues, like Reality Store and YMCA mentoring. Some other solutions they proposed included attracting businesses that are electronically based, improving broadband infrastructure, taking advantage of our local community college, utilizing Bay Aging as a Community Action Program, and taking a regional approach to economic development.

Group 6 had a conversation around the theme of advocacy and support for people in poverty or at risk. They had a number on concerns, including taking away pride by giving away, the long-term or generational quality of poverty, financial literacy issues, drug problems, lack of transportation, how to help people in transition, including people with criminal histories or with mental health issues. They suggested a number of concrete programs like VIEW and Reality Store, "Hugs and Kisses" from Theatre IV which deals with sexual abuse, and investigating "Justice Circles," a mediation training program. They talked about parental advocacy in school, education about abuse, empowerment programs, and literacy training.

This information is my attempt to abstract the discussions that took place in a way that can be shared with the whole group and with other interested parties who were unable to attend. Since I wasn't in all the discussions, this came out of verbatim notes that each group took. Please comment with any corrections or additions.

Tomorrow, I'll finish up with the conference with the Open Space Conversations.

Still more on the Conference

After Jereann King Johnson's presentation, Leslie Franklin did a fabulous job of presenting some the data that Paula Fisher and others had collected on poverty in the Northern Neck. Leslie pointed out that 1 in 10 families in the area live below the federal poverty level. One in ten! That's a lot of families who are struggling to get by. She highlighted the power of education and wished we could let young people look into the future to see what a lack of education could cost them. Drop-out rates range from 6 to 12% across the four counties. Without an adequate education, what are their chances? One in five Virginians without a high school diploma live in poverty. Leslie talked about children. It is shocking to hear that nearly 1/2 of the students in Lancaster and Northumberland County qualify for free or reduced lunch. To quote Leslie, "Fifty percent of our children should not have to go hungry without the aid of the school." Finally, she highlighted the issue of housing. People working in the Northern Neck cannot afford to own a house in the county where they work. Even if they could, there is very little available for those with low purchasing power. Leslie finished with an eloquent appeal, a call to action, one we hope to continue to share with people who can make a difference.

To see the statistics handout on poverty in the Northern Neck, check this link:
http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12840610/5zgjpy1jvzhea8xkj23
My apologies for the disrupted format, please comment on this post or let me know at visions@lancasterlibrary if you would like me to mail you a hard copy. Don't forget to give me your contact information.

We broke for lunch and did some less formal networking over food. At the end of lunch, we were encouraged to share one thing that each of us would like to do to reduce poverty when we left the room at the end of the day.

From 12:45 to 1:45, we worked in 5 smaller groups on some of the common themes we had identified in the morning. Each group had a task, a theme to address. One group discussed the history of VISIONS and the three-part plan for future action. Another group focused on ways to involve everyone in the process. Yet another tackled the thorny issues of race and culture. A fourth group had a spirited discussion on jobs, economy, training and mentoring. Advocacy and support for people at risk or in poverty was the theme for another group. Some wonderful ideas and information came out as each group reported to the conference as a whole, a process facilitated by Jean Burkhardt and Gwen Whiting.

More on June 10 conference

After our introductory session, we heard from Rev. Edward King, Jr., Senior Program Officer with the duPont Fund. He gave us some history and background on the duPont Fund and their efforts in the Northern Neck. Since Mrs. duPont was born in the Northern Neck, it is one of the five core communities that have been a focus for the fund. Rev. King encouraged us to look for creative ways to reduce poverty. He mentioned the Northern Neck Housing Study Group, presented in March 2009, and the Summer Jobs Network for Youth, which will place at-risk students in summer jobs with mentors to help them succeed this summer. Both of these were funded by duPont.

Prior to our conference, members of the planning committee for this conference had called some contacts in various communities who had successfully discussed and made progress in reducing poverty. All of them had something in common with the Northern Neck, whether it was racial or cultural divisions, rural as opposed to urban, and so on, so we thought they might be able to share some of their experiences. Paula Fisher presented some of the themes and suggestions that came out of those calls. If you want to know more about her presentation, please comment with your email attached and I will send you that information.

Or try this link:
http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/12814958/pdfnloj9vm7g39iscwi
Sharing docs is new to me, so bear with me if it doesn't work!

After Paula's presentation, we heard from Jereann King Johnson, a consultant and community coach from Warrenton, North Carolina. She shared some information about their efforts to address and reduce poverty. She was frank about issues of race and divisions and the need to get a diverse group of people involved. Jereann is a quilter, and the metaphor she gave us of piecing together many types and colors of fabric to present a whole new picture was a powerful one. She emphasized the need to support the young teachers who came to the area by literally helping them get to know the community and telling them "we have your back" in their efforts. She specifically talked about the impact of poverty on young people.
Finally, she reminded us to be persistent in our efforts. Jereann was a dynamic presenter who gave us much to think about.

Visions Conference: Building Community Assets to Reduce Poverty

The Visions Conference: Building Community Assets to Reduce Poverty was held on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at the Northumberland Community Center. About 50 participants from 3 counties in the Northern Neck turned out to discuss poverty in this area and to begin to explore ways that it can be reduced. After breakfast and registration, our facilitators, Jean Burkhardt from Minnesota and Gwen Whiting, led us in an introductory activity.

We were asked to form small groups, hopefully including people who were new to us, so we could build some new relationships, share our thoughts and experiences of poverty and people in poverty, and some potential spheres of influence in which we could extend this conversation. In later posts, I will continue to discuss the agenda and the progress of the day. There was a great deal covered and lots of energy and ideas shared.

Meeting tomorrow and conference next week

Just a reminder that the steering committee has a meeting tomorrow, Thursday, June 4th, at the Lancaster Community Library at 8:30 am.

The invitation or confirmation letters for the Visions Conference: Building Community Assets to Reduce Poverty went out on Friday evening. We are getting an excellent response and it looks like we will have about 50 people participating in this important conversation on ways we can reduce poverty in the Northern Neck of Virginia. As a point of clarification, the agenda that went out with the mailing included "open space conversations" from 3:00 to 5:00. These conversations are optional, with people who would like to continue invited to participate. The meeting begins at 8:00 am with a continental breakfast and includes lunch. Jean Burkhardt, our consultant from Minnesota, will be on hand, along with Gwen Whiting from Richmond and Jereann King Johnson from North Carolina. Rev. Edward King with the duPont Fund will also join us.