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Family Action Teams

 

Since the spring of 2006, an ad hoc committee of the Erie Community Foundation has studied the issue of poverty in the Erie Community.  Through the work of this committee and the support of the Erie Community Foundation, public awareness about the extent of poverty in Erie County, the challenges for families living in poverty, the circumstances that lead to poverty and the high costs of poverty for our entire community has been created and generated an interest in addressing these issues. 

Recently Mercyhurst Civic Institute (MCI), United Way of Erie County and The Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC) have applied for and been granted an Erie Women’s Fund Grant to address poverty.  Each of these organizations was represented on the Poverty Work Group. They will work in collaboration over the next five years to:

First: Implement a process in ten to thirteen neighborhoods, two the first year and two to three in subsequent years, that will result in neighborhood driven action plans to address poverty.  In other words, it “will connect deliberative dialogue to social, political, and policy change.”  Both city and rural neighborhoods will be targeted. Involvement will be sought from existing organizations and initiatives such as Neighborhood Watch, Greater Erie’s Community-Centered Vision group (GECCV), Erie Weed and Seed, and Project Serve.

Research shows that one of the main things people in poverty are lacking is support.   A Family Action Team is a supportive, intentional, reciprocal, befriending relationship made up of one Family Team Leader who is living in poverty and two to three Community Partners who usually are from middle class and a staff member who is fully integrated into the local social service system.

During the first year of the program, 10 families will be recruited. Families will be assessed for how well they meet predetermined criteria—namely they must be from a lower socio-economic background, demonstrate that they are motivated to achieve a goal or goals, and be interested in working with two or three Community Partners and GECAC staff as a team. 

GECAC and United Way will recruit 20 to 30 volunteers to act as mentors or Community Partners. These Community Partners will be recruited from an array of places such as poverty simulations, Dialogue to Action Teams, local churches, and interested businesses. The volunteer Community Partners will not only provide much needed support for the families but also will act as role models for the participant families to emulate.

Community Partners will learn about the hidden rules of poverty, middle income and wealth. Community Partners will learn about the everyday struggles of the poor, this in turn will help them to see where systemic change must occur and to advocate for the change through the Dialogue to Action process. GECAC will offer training for the Community Partners so that they will have a better understanding of the circumstances low-income families find themselves facing, and what the Family Action Team program attempts to achieve. The training also will provide background regarding how the social service system works. 

Teams would meet formally at least twice a month over dinner. This will provide a setting to build friendships and to work on the family’s plans and goals. Less formal meetings will take place on an as needed basis. The twice-monthly meetings will provide a forum for all the teams to meet together and share what has been working and what remains as a challenge. Individual family teams will also have time to meet and work on the Family Action Plans. Team members will participate in and use their experiences to inform discussion at the Dialogue to Action Teams.

GECAC will provide staff support to the program. It is envisioned that the families would use the Family Self-Sufficiency scale to help the Team (family, Community Partners and GECAC staff) to identify all of the family’s barriers to self-sufficiency. The Self-Sufficiency scale assesses the family in 10 areas critical to long-term success. These include education, employment, health insurance, income, mental health, social functioning, housing, nutrition, transportation, and debt. To be considered self-sufficient, a participant must obtain an overall score of 71, with individual scores of seven (7) or above in employment, income, debt, and housing. The Self-Sufficiency scale is an important tool that is used to help the family identify their barriers and to develop long and short-range plans to overcome these barriers. Most family in need will look to very concrete short-term goals at first. As their more immediate needs are met longer term goals can be addressed.

Family Leaders will use the insight they learn through the Self-Sufficiency scale to develop a Family Action Plan. This plan will be developed with the support of the Community Partners and staff; however, as the family is the “leader,” they will have the ultimate decision on the goals that are developed. Goals will be built on strengths instead of emphasizing weaknesses. The strength-based and family focused approach will help individuals to achieve long-lasting self-sufficiency because they are developing the goal plans in a supportive team atmosphere, instead of a caseworker giving them the goals. Having team members who can provide support when needed is an added boost. In building a matrix of services that will be effective, all services provided by GECAC and other community providers will be coordinated so that the families' needs are comprehensively addressed.  

The self-sufficiency scale will be used to help the families and the team to develop a more formal agreement of responsibility. It will spell out the families, the Community Partners and the staff’s responsibilities as they work toward the goals set in the plan. Goal achievement and the ability of the client to set new realistic goals, as observed by the team, will measure progress.

For additional information, please contact Ed Sitter at GECAC by phone (459-4581 ext 439) or e-mail (esitter@gecac.org).