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A solution as simple as a circle
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Contact Community Services is the lead agency for the implementation of the CNY Circles Campaign. Based on a national model, CNY Circles is a process of building teams of community allies to partner with families moving out of poverty. A Circle is a supportive and reciprocal relationship made up of one Circle Leader (individual or family) who is living in poverty and two to five community Allies, usually from middle class or wealth.
It is the next step in the Bridges Out Of Poverty Initiative,
introduced in Central New York in 2005. CNY Circles is based on the national CirclesTM model initiated by Move the Mountain Leadership Center in Ames, Iowa. CNY Circles is part of the 50-community pilot project of the national CirclesTM Campaign, a partnership between Move the Mountain and aha!Process (Bridges Out of Poverty).
Circle Leaders and Allies learn Bridges Out of Poverty principles to gain common language and understanding and build community planning and advocacy skills. Allies attend Bridges Out of Poverty training. Training for Circle Leaders is based on the Getting Ahead curriculum of aha!Process. Circle Leaders learn to use the hidden rules of class to build financial, emotional and social resources.
Contact Community Services is working with 7 partner organizations to recruit Circle Leaders: JobsPlus, The Salvation Army, Huntington Family Centers, Women's Opportunity Center, Syracuse YMCA, Syracuse Housing Authority, and Abundant Life Christian Center.
As Circles Leaders graduate from these training classes, they will be matched with Community Allies to work toward their visions.
CNY Circles, like other national CirclesTM campaigns, will also work at the community level. Weekly meetings will bring Circle Leaders, Allies and others together to network and provide support. Larger monthly meetings will address community and system barriers to moving out of poverty. A Guiding Coalition of Circle Leaders, interested community leaders and other volunteers will assume responsibility for coordinating the CNY Circles Campaign with support from Contact Community Services as the lead agency.
The CNY Circles Campaign has received funding from the United Way Community Initiative Fund and M & T Foundation, and Mackenzie Hughes LLP.
Traditional programs help keep people survive in poverty. Circles builds a circle of support around families to enable them to move out of poverty and into economic wellbeing.
For more information about the CNY Circles Campaign, e-mail cnycircles@contactsyracuse.org or call 315-251-1400, ext. 100.
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