Building Communities of Support for Families in Poverty

INTRODUCTION

our years ago I began working on issues of long-term poverty with the Springfield Housing Authority in Springfield, Massachusetts. Seeing that short-term programs devised and implemented primarily by outsiders had only short-term effects, I devised a program based on Adlerian concepts related to discouragement and encouragement. The goal was to train individuals within the community to help their peers break the cycle of despair in which they lived.

owever, continued exposure to the realities of life in poverty made me wonder if my ideas could really work. I saw up close the details that make poor people's lives such a struggle:

- how difficult it is for poor mothers to convince their teenage children to stay in school and try for good jobs when neighborhood drug dealers are offering kids hundreds of dollars a week to sell drugs. - that poor families must strain a meager food budget by paying ten dollars a week for a taxi to transport their purchases from the supermarket to the isolated housing projects where they live. - that even the cleanest apartment may be overrun by cockroaches from a neighbor's home. - that poor people often choose to remain isolated within their communities rather than face the suspicion and stereotyped views of mainstream society.

ould any program really give poor people the confidence and skills they need to overcome the innumerable barriers that stand between them and better life?

ronically, encouragement to go ahead with my training model came from the very individuals I wanted to train - the potential Master Teachers in the housing development.

"This is what we have always needed. It's about time someone let us find ways to solve our own problems," said Ginny Green, a Master Teacher from Duggan Park Housing Development, Springfield, Massachusetts.
"People in public housing are used to people from outside agencies coming in and doing this or that for three months or a year. But a program like yours, that involves the people living here helping each other, will get more respect," said Rev. Willie Pearson, President of the Council of Tenant Residents at Springfield Housing Development. "That's why I'm behind you."
"We're so secluded here," said Lynn Belvavis. "That's why Guiding Hands (the Master Teacher program in Springfield Housing Development) is needed. We should be each other's guiding hand and helping each other out."
"The problem with outside help is you have to get it by phone and that person may not make it to your problems," said fifteen-year- old Jose Gonzales, a member of the teen Master Teacher component. "When you have someone in the community to help you, you just have a few steps to go."

ith the support of the very people I had set out to encourage, I have spent the past three years refining the Master Teacher in Family Life Model. Each step in implementing this program has been a learning experience for me as well as my Master Teachers. My pre-set goals were often surpassed. Individuals were helped in unexpected ways; more families were helped than ever anticipated; a suicide was prevented; a young family was kept from homelessness. One Master Teacher in a drug-infested community initiated a community development process that has resulted in ongoing youth enrichment activities, a youth leadership group, a teen dropout program and a long-term neighborhood networking program that has discouraged drug pushers from using the neighborhood as often as before. In fact, the teens who had been dealing drugs have requested that this Master Teacher set up a group in which they can work out their problems. All of this occurred because of one Master Teacher!

he Master Teachers whom I have trained have made many such changes in their communities. More important than any specific change is the fact that poor families affected by the Master Teacher program are beginning to feel empowerment. They now have the spirit and energy to aim for a better quality of life. They are beginning to see hope for their children. They are successfully networking with mainstream society.

hy has this program worked? Mutual respect seems to be a key element. I had knowledge, skills, and connections within mainstream society. The natural leaders I recruited knew all the issues firsthand and could devise strategies to address them. Together we produced a program that worked.

his program can produce the same feelings of empowerment in any poor community, whether in the inner-city, pockets of poverty in the south, or in the rural communities of the United States. More than funding or political support, however, this program needs a dedicated trainer who really cares about families at risk.

o be a successful trainer in this program, you must be really committed to helping the long-term poor. You must sincerely respect the fact that all human beings, regardless of who they are or where they live, are equally human and equally deserving of a decent life. You must be able to communicate your faith in each individual you work with. You must have the stamina and dedication to work through difficult social and political barriers that will arise. Over and over again, you will find that you need to let your trainees take the lead. Though you may have the theoretical answers, they have practical knowledge. The trainer's respect for the teachers increases their self-respect, releasing the hidden strengths that make the program work - for them and for their community.

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