Using teams of volunteers to assist families out of poverty
Abstract
To assist families as they transition off welfare, the Texas Department of Human Services developed a community-based partnership to provide families with a team of volunteers for mentoring and support. Family Pathfinders builds teams from faith-based, nonprofit and business organizations to help families along the path to self-sufficiency. This effective practice was shared at the AmeriCorps*VISTA Faith-Based and Community Organization Conference at the University of Indianapolis, August, 2001.
Issue
For families moving off public assistance, mentors can be instrumental in modeling problem solving, providing concerned listening, and helping to construct measurable steps toward strengthening the family's capacity to participate in the community.
Action
Family Pathfinders believes that developing effective community advisory councils and training local volunteer trainers — who provide training to volunteer teams recruited from faith-based, nonprofit, civic and business organizations &mdash can be an effective network for assisting families out of poverty.
Teams of volunteers provide a depth and breadth of life experience and a resiliency beyond the capacity of an individual mentor. The team can share the tasks of assistance throughout the group, as well as utilize their individual capabilities. In addition, the team may inform and educate the members of the organization they represent about the steps to strengthening their community one family at a time. Bonding among members, meeting organizational and personal missions, and increasing community awareness and compassion, are other attributes of a team's service.
Normally four to eight people are on a team. Each trained team commits to mentor one family for up to one year to help the family increase its self-sufficiency, problem solving, and resource utilization skills. Family Pathfinders arranges for a qualified trainer to conduct a four-hour training session for the team.The training provides the team with an understanding about the hurdles families in poverty deal with daily. It includes interactive role-playing, how to budget a minimum-wage salary, and more. During the training and the period of the match, the community members learn about how social services and resources function in their own community. Follow-up meetings conducted every other month allow teams to share successes and common issues.
Families receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) volunteer to be part of the program. Families are also referred to the program by other organizations whose mission it is to enhance self-sufficiency among this population. Once the family completes an application to be part of the program, staff shares the application with a trained volunteer team. The team leader then contacts the family's head of household to set up a meeting.
The match family decides how many of the team members to meet at one time and over the period of the match. Generally, two team members will be the primary contacts with other members taking specialty roles, based on their own skills and interests such as budgeting, parenting, tutoring, workplace preparation, and children's activities. Initial contact may be as often as once a week, diminishing later to twice a month — with phone calls throughout the association. Each team and each family makes a commitment to take the time to build the relationship needed to reach the goals expressed by the family.
Family Pathfinders/Department of Human Services/Volunteer Services supports developing a sustainable program in local communities by:
- Developing advisory councils with a month-by-month plan for the first year to establish a successful foundation and operation, and assuring that the council reflects a breadth of the community.
- Designing team training and monitoring trainers/training for quality and consistency. Training local community volunteer trainers to recruit and train Family Pathfinders teams.
- Establishing processes to match and maintain teams and families, including how to recruit families from area social service agencies, to match with each team for the commitment year.
- Updating and maintaining a database system for monthly reports from each advisory council and each of the teams.
- Designing, printing, and distributing marketing materials to all sites, to maintain a consistent quality standard and identity statewide.
- Providing additional technical support as requested or envisioned as needed.
Context
The Family Pathfinders project is nurtured in the community in partnership between community leadership and the Texas Department of Human Services/Volunteer Services/Family Pathfinders. The intent is to build community-based partnership of teams from faith-based organizations, as well as nonprofit and business organizations, helping families along the path to self-sufficiency.
Outcome
Family Pathfinders helps communities to learn about families in poverty, the common interests and goals shared, and the profound effect a caring team of volunteers can have on helping families create a more affluent life and contribute to the community's strength.
Evidence
As of July 2001:- Over 725 families have been served by 3,150 trained volunteers, who make up teams across the state.
- Over 150 volunteer trainers have been trained, with 10 advisory councils in development, and 4 new program sites opening in 2001.
- 82 percent of the families served are no longer receiving TANF [Temporary Assistance to Needy Families].
- 60 percent employment verified.
- Teams statewide "re-up" for an additional family and another year of service. Some teams have been in continual service since 1997, assisting multiple families in their community.
Posted On
August 20, 2001For More Information
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