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Making Poverty Escapable

Explore how families break free from poverty by investing in their talents and initiative, not just relying on aid. Learn about successful case studies and the impact of this approach.

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Making Poverty Escapable

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  1. Making Poverty Escapable Follow the Families: They have the most at stake Mauricio Lim Miller, Pres/Founder mauricio@fii.org Jesus Gerena, CEO jesus@fii.org Jorge Blandón, Director Analytics Division Jorge@fii.org

  2. Look for People’s Talents How Most People Saw Her Mexican immigrant Underemployed Single mom Twice divorced 3rd Grade Education Daughter in trouble How She Should Have Been Seen Learned math & bookkeeping on her own Worked two jobs and did side work Talented dress designer, great seamstress Became a U.S. citizen Put her son thru UC Berkeley, engineering Assured daughter was cared for by her son

  3. Painting the Poor as Helpless

  4. Census Studies 2004 - 2014: Only ~ 3% stay in poverty more than 3 years

  5. Crisis and Poverty is Episodic Half of the 3% are seniors/disabled who are unable to work.

  6. Reverse Incentives for Low-income

  7. When helping doesn’t help Tracie: her experiences with welfare and nonprofit programs: • “… if you consult programs often, you begin to believe their way is the only way, because you are told so much that you are not valuable…. It discourages people, even though they have a lot of talent and ideas.” • “It doesn’t consist of just having a focus group, then they go and discuss you on their own. We have to allow people to be really active in their own destiny.”

  8. Your Choice: Make Poverty TolerableorEscapable Tolerable Free and subsidized food, shelter, clothing childcare, etc. is important, especially for those in crisis. Basic stability important, but not a springboard forward. Escapable To gain sustained mobility you must invest in people’s initiative and talents. The information FII captures. (Think about raising your teenager)

  9. The Alternative “The alternative is fairly simple: look for what people are already doing for themselves and others, and then invest in it. Follow, rather than lead them. This encourages and creates even more initiative.” From upcoming book: “The Alternative: Most of what you believe about poverty is wrong”

  10. Impact At A Glance Averages over last 14 years from 8 Cities • Family SAVINGS increase by 120% • Family INCOME EARNING increase by24% • 25% - 30% of the families start a SMALL BUSINESS • 3% of families BUY A HOME • 70%of children improve GRADES or ATTENDANCE • 75% of families report IMPROVEMENT in their HEALTH • 80%of families report HELPING FRIENDS or NEIGHBORS

  11. San Francisco Bay Area Report to Funders1,057 adults/teens/children in 319 households – 2 years Progress Headlines • Total income has increased 42% • Business income has increased 37% • Govt. subsidies dropped by 35% • Savings increased 165% from $298 to $784 per household

  12. Families Rely On Each Other • Families increase reliance on each other over the first six month • Families that run businesses tend to both give and receive help more often than non-business owners

  13. Families Pool Funds: Self Finance They have “skin” in the game Social Signaling 3 Lending Circles become 40 Circles in 3.5 years Lending Circle example: “Every week we save $30 and each of the twelve of us receive a payout of $360 four times a year.”

  14. Historical Social Capital – Peer to Peer Models Barn Raising DeKalb County, IN Lower East Side New York Chinatown San Francisco Greenwood Tulsa Weeksville Brooklyn Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa

  15. Sustained Behavioral ChangeTipping Point will scale change Positive Deviant: Maria-Elena bought a home Early Adopters Her group then bought homes Tipping Point/Early Majority Other refugees from her community then began to buy homes.

  16. How Systems See Me Single mom Section 8 housing resident Food stamp consumer Underemployed GED graduate 580 Credit Score How I See Myself Mother of three A students Active member of my community Participant in a $10,000 Lending Circle Entrepreneur paying back a small business loan FII Scholarship recipient 780 Initiative Score

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