Bridging the gap on poverty with people and fact finding

Thursday, December 26, 2013

MARTINSVILLE -- Moving onward and upward is the basis of the American dream. The Bridges Out of Poverty group in Putnam County is looking to help those in poverty come up with the tools and motivation to step up and change how they live.

According to census information from 2008-12, 14.7 percent of Indiana's population lives in poverty, and across the United States 14.9 percent of the population lives in poverty.

With 444,716 Hoosiers living in poverty, the group heading the Bridges Out of Poverty program is hoping to try and make life better for those who want to better themselves.

"(We) are working with Cari Cox at (Putnam County) Family Support Services to look for people that want to change," Linda Hunter of the Putnam County Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative said.

Hunter, along with 15 other members of the initiative and recent graduates of the "Getting Ahead" program, traveled to Martinsville recently to listen to Bridges Out of Poverty's designer Dr. Ruby Payne.

Payne came up with the concept of Bridges Out of Poverty after visiting Haiti while she was in school.

"When I came back, I noticed some similarities to Haiti and what was going on here in the United States," Payne said.

Ruby Payne

Haiti has an estimated 80 percent of the population living in poverty according to the federal government. While Haiti's poverty level is much higher than the U.S. and Indiana, Payne was still concerned about what she saw and started working on her book "A Framework for Understanding Poverty." Her original book brought her into co-authoring "Bridges Out of Poverty" with Philip E. DeVol and Terie Dreussi-Smith.

The book led to Bridges communities and groups popping up and taking the ideas that Payne, DeVol and Dreussi-Smith developed and putting them into action.

Hunter and the Putnam County Bridges Committee has done just that and has recently celebrated the first class of their program, "Getting Ahead in a Just Getting By World." This program helped several students not just develop goals for the future, but also short-term goals.

Hunter explained that how the classes and Bridges work is that it is about getting the participants to realize what they need to do and help them explore their options to try and get out of poverty. While the initiative works with the people to help them gain their goals, they have also worked to help improve what can be done to help job quality in Putnam County.

Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray has talked to Hunter about trying to gain more jobs in the area that pay a living wage, which Hunter said was $12.50 for those residing in Putnam County, and not just minimum wage.

While getting a job and staying with it is one of the goals of Bridges, it is also to focus on what are the goals of the individuals participating in the program.

In a session after the meeting, Hunter asked the assembled Putnam County group about what they wished to achieve in the new year and what they believed determines their success.

Jenny Bradshaw of Monical's Pizza pointed out that one of their graduates achieved her goal of quitting smoking. While it may seem like a small accomplishment, the group was ecstatic about the progress.

While poverty may remain a problem in Putnam County, those involved with the Bridges Out of Poverty initiative are excited at the accomplishment of these small goals. It is encouragement as they continue to strive forward in working to get as many as they can the help they need.

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