CIRCLES®

CIRCLES® is a bold, new, local and national strategy to engage the community in helping families move out of poverty. CIRCLES® is a high-impact strategy to alleviate poverty that is working in 40+ communities across the United States to inspire and equip community members from all walks of life to come up with solutions to systemic barriers that keep people in poverty while assisting families to leave poverty one-by-one-by-one.

Circle Leaders (low-income people who want to work to get their families out of poverty) participate in a free 16-session course for families in poverty called “Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World”. These 2½ hour sessions are provided at a “weekly CIRCLES® community meeting” where a no-cost dinner and free child care remove some of the barriers to participation.

After participating in “Bridges Out of Poverty” training, community volunteers (who become Circle Allies) are linked with CIRCLES® Leaders who want to work their way out of poverty. The reciprocal relationships built in these groups helps break down the isolation many low-income families experience, add meaning to the lives of all the people involved, strengthen the entire community, and empower community members to work to remove the systemic barriers that make it so difficult for people to leave poverty.

We chose the CIRCLES® Campaign as our strategy to end poverty because:

• It changes the mindset of the community;
• It empowers people of all economic classes to have a voice;
• It changes the systemic barriers that keep people in poverty.