Strengthening service goals with a book club
Abstract
Reading and discussing books related to the subject of poverty is a strategy to help VISTAs gain insights into the struggles faced by those they serve, and can also help keep members inspired and create a context for service. At the Ohio Benefit Bank in Columbus, Ohio, VISTA members who help prepare and file federal income tax returns for low- to moderate- income workers have formed a book club that meets monthly to consider the issues of poverty and class. This effective practice was shared in January 2009, by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory: EnCorps, a training and technical assistance provider for the Corporation for National and Community Service. EnCorps furnishes field-tested resources focused on recruiting and training AmeriCorps and VISTA members.
Issue
For many VISTA members who come from middle class families, interacting with low-income clients may be their first exposure to poverty. Examining preconceptions and beliefs about economics, class, and culture can deepen the members' service experience and broaden their world view.
Action
At the Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB) in Columbus, Ohio, VISTA members serve as community trainers in each of the 12 regional food banks where they train new OBB counselors. Qualified counselors staff Benefit Bank sites and clinics to help prepare and file federal and Ohio income tax returns at no cost to eligible Ohioans.
In order to prepare members for service with a low-income population, the program director sends each new member a book on poverty to read before mandatory attendance at pre-service orientation (PSO). According to the director, these books help members decipher the “hidden rules” about poverty and class and can, consequently, help them relate with more ease to the clients they see each day.
When members arrive at their site for post-PSO orientation, they discuss the material and launch a yearlong book club. During monthly conference calls, VISTAs talk about the books they are reading. Additionally, more in-depth discussions take place when they come together for quarterly meetings.
One staff member is a certified “Bridges Out of Poverty” trainer and consequently this highly relevant and well-regarded curriculum is incorporated into the VISTA orientation. (See Resources section for notes on this book.)
Context
The Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB) offers a web-based computer program that connects low and moderate-income Ohioans with access to work supports such as tax credits and public benefits.
The OBB is provided through a public-private partnership between the Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks and more than 400 faith-based, nonprofit, governmental and private-sector partners.
In 2009, more than 4300 trained counselors staffed hundreds of Benefit Bank sites and clinics in 86 of Ohio's 88 counties to help prepare and file federal and Ohio income tax returns at no cost to eligible Ohioans. Free income tax assistance is also made available through an online, self-service program.
Additionally, Ohioans can check potential eligibility for other work support benefits such as health care coverage, home energy assistance, child care subsidies, and food stamps at the Benefit Bank site or online.
Since beginning operations, the Benefit Bank has helped more than 35,000 Ohioans claim more than 50.6 million dollars in tax credits and other work supports ― 11 million dollars in 2008 alone. However, more than 1.6 billion dollars in tax credits and other supports go unclaimed by eligible Ohioans who do not apply.
History:
The OBB’s foundation and origins are in the faith community. Across the country, The Benefit Bank is a project of the National Council of Churches (NCC), the Jewish Council on Public Affairs and several other national organizations. NCC chose Ohio as a pilot state for the Benefit Bank. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation provided funding to complete software programming of taxes and benefits for the OBB, by Solutions for Progress, Inc., a public policy and information technology firm. Outreach began in early 2006 when Episcopal Community Services Foundation of Southern Ohio started recruiting counselors and establishing Benefit Bank sites. The Columbus Foundation and the Ohio Department of Development, Office of Community Services, in 2006 provided substantial grants for community outreach.
Later in 2006, the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks (OASHF) became the lead non-profit agency implementing the OBB. OASHF obtained a nonmonetary grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service, and placed one AmeriCorps*VISTA member as a “Community Trainer” in each of the 12 Regional Foodbanks in Ohio to train new OBB counselors. OASHF established OBB sites sponsored by faith-based and community organizations as well as businesses, trained Benefit Bank counselors and built local coalitions for outreach using the OBB.
Citation
See the original resource online at http://encorps.nationalserviceresources.org/2008/08/poverty_training.php.
EnCorps is a set of online resources for AmeriCorps and VISTA program staff targeting member recruitment, placement, orientation, ongoing training, and transitioning beyond their year of service. EnCorps is a collection of The Resource Center.
EnCorps, funded by CNCS, is a partnership that includes Education Northwest; OR and WA state commissions; and AmeriCorps and VISTA programs throughout the country, with support from their state service commissions and CNCS state offices. Education Northwest was the CNCS training and technical assistance provider for member recruitment and development.
Outcome
The ongoing book club helps VISTA members stay focused on their mission.
A deeper understanding of the challenges and strengths of those in impoverished situations can help members to optimize and create opportunities for success for those they serve.
Posted On
January 28, 2009For More Information
Resources
Resources:
Bridges Out of Poverty is a unique tool for social, health, and legal services professionals. Based in part on Dr. Ruby K. Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty, the resource is appropriate for those service providers and businesses whose daily work connects them with the lives of people in poverty.
The book includes case studies, detailed analysis, helpful charts and exercises, and specific solutions you and your organization can implement right now to:
- Redesign programs to better serve people you work with
- Build skill sets for management to help guide employees
- Upgrade training for front-line staff
(http://www.ahaprocess.com/store/Books.html)
Poverty Concepts Reading List
Books:
Understanding Poverty (2002) by Sheldon H. Danziger and Robert H. Haveman
The Working Poor: Invisible in America (2005) by David K. Shipler
The State of Working America 2004/2005 (2005) by Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Sylvia Allegretto (Economic Policy Institute)
Field Guide to the U.S. Economy (2006) by Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, Nancy Folbre, James Heintz (Center for Popular Economics)
Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (With Kids) in America (2006) by Michelle Kennedy
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (2001) by James Agee and Walker Evans
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) by John Steinbeck
Nickel and Dimed (2001) by Barbara Ehrenreich
Articles:
“Relatively Deprived” by John Cassidy (the New Yorker, April 3, 2006)
“Overcoming the Silence of Generational Poverty” by Dr. Donna M. Beegle (Talking Points, October/November 2003)
“Getting to ‘Why’ to solve for ‘How’: Kids in Poverty Now on Radar” an extended interview with national expert Dr. Donna Beegle on breaking through the barriers of generational poverty. From Northwest Education, Fall 2004
Reports:
“Getting Out–and Staying Out–of Poverty: The Complex Causes of and Responses to Poverty in the Northwest” (December 2004) by David Harrison and Bob Watrus for the Northwest Area Foundation
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