[BFET] Report on the 2017 Addressing the Challenges of Poverty Conference

[Mat Carlisle]

Good afternoon.
In late September, I had the opportunity to attend the Addressing the Challenges of Poverty Conference, hosted by aha!Process in St. Louis, MO. Aha!Process is the organization which developed such books as A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Bridges Out of Poverty, Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World, Understanding and Engaging Under-Resourced College Students, Investigations in Economic Class in America and Bridges to Sustainable Communities. If you've not read these books, I would encourage you to add them to your reading list. Also, attending from the SBCTC were Ha Nguyen, BEdA Policy Associate, and Edward Esparza, Student Services Policy Associate.

A team from Lower Columbia College was in attendance to present their efforts to incorporate the Bridges concepts into their community. The presenters were:

*         Stefanee Bunn - LCC WorkFirst Manager

*         Katie Sully - LCC BFET Education Planner

*         Julie Bohannan - LCC WorkFirst Program Coordinator

*         Shannon Wachob - LCC WorkFirst Transitions Specialist

*         Jamie Prochaska - LCC Security Guard

*         Cherene Crowson - LCC WorkFirst Program Coordinator

*         Heather Wooldridge - LCC Career & Employment Specialist
Additional presenters in this workshop included Liz Myntti, Program Manager from Lower Columbia Community Action Plan and Susan Kempf, WorkFirst LPA Lead from the Department of Commerce.

LCC's presentation, entitled Building the Bridge, began by providing some general demographics from Cowlitz County prior to breaking those demographics down into the homeless and families and individuals in poverty. Then, they described how they became involved with the Bridges concepts and began to incorporate them into their work at LCC. These efforts include building resources for their students by offering workshops on the 11 Bridges resources during college breaks, as well as offering the Getting Ahead class to their community. They are, also, presenting the Investigations in Economic Class in America curriculum. All of this had added up to the development of a Bridges Core Committee dedicated to changing the mindset on poverty, bridging the gap between socioeconomic classes and promoting a sustainable community in order to bring stability to Cowlitz County.

The workshop was a success, as the LCC team did a marvelous job.

But, there was much, much more to the conference. Here is a link that will take you to the powerpoint presentations for the conference workshops: www.ahaprocess.com/handouts-acp17<http://www.ahaprocess.com/handouts-acp17>. I can recommend two of the workshops I was able to attend:

1.       Together the Dream is Possible! presented by Danville Area Community College of Danville, IL.

2.       Gateway to Economic Stability presented Bucks County Community College and the Bucks County Opportunity Council of Newtown, PA.
If you are interested in attending the Addressing the Challenges of Poverty Conference, it is next scheduled for September 23-25, 2018, in Atlanta, GA. For general information about aha!Process, go to their webpage at www.ahaprocess.com<http://www.ahaprocess.com>.

In Washington state, the SBCTC is involved in several initiatives to address the challenges of poverty. A few are:

1.       Bridges Out of Poverty concepts

a.       Getting Ahead initiative by the Dept. of Commerce

b.       College Achievement Alliance

2.       2-Gen Approach (whole Family Approach)

3.       Motivational Interviewing

4.       WIOA

5.       Guided Pathways

6.       Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Mat

Mat Carlisle
Program Administrator,  Workforce Education
State Board of Community and Technical Colleges
Phone: 360.704.4341
Fax: 360.704.4418
Email: mcarlisle at sbctc.edu

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