Bridging Forward, a program created by the Community Impact Network and United Way of South Central Nebraska is an innovative effort to engage all of us in putting individuals, families, and this community on the road to stability.
TOGETHER WE WILL:
Improve quality of life
Lead people to true prosperity: enough shelter, food, healthcare, childcare, meaningful work, and community to THRIVE.
Increase our local workforce
There are currently 800+ open job in Adams, Clay, Nuckolls, and Webster Counties as well as thousands of under-employed workers.
Reducing the Need
Our new system discourages reliance on public assistance by properly preparing and onboarding individuals to quality, meaningful work.
Current Situation
How many are in poverty in our area?
Adams, Clay, Nuckolls, and Webster Counties have a poverty rate of 12% – or 5,469 people. This is higher than the poverty rate of the state of Nebraska.
12.5% of Adams County live in poverty – or 3,948 people.
10.5% of Clay County live in poverty – or 651 people.
11.2% of Nuckolls County live in poverty – or 475 people.
10.8% of Webster County live in poverty – or 382 people.
Data taken from the Census American Community Survey 2015-2019 5-year estimates
Our goal
What does a 30% reduction in poverty look like?
700 households over the next ten years living a better life!
The Plan
How will we do this?
It’s time to do things differently. We will be moving from a POVERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (a band-aid approach), which is transactional, short-term, and unreliable. The new system will be a POVERTY ALLEVIATION SYSTEM.
For a person in crisis, the system prioritizes meeting basic needs to address the emergency. This includes safe shelter, food, immediate health and legal needs before focusing on stabilization.
The focus is on building a stronger foundation that enhances resiliency, creates ‘breathing room’ and provides the opportunity to begin to look toward the future.
Getting ready for higher-wage work means the person can focus on developing needed skills and plan for their career future without the distraction of crisis or stabilization pitfalls.
We work closely with the new employer and the person to make the new job transition smoother, with the needed support system in place to ensure retention and to overcome challenges.
Once placed in a job that offers a line-of-sight to increased income, the focus is now on self-sufficiency planning, overcoming recurring pitfalls and increasing job roles and pay.
As defined by enough shelter, food, healthcare, childcare, meaningful work, and community to THRIVE.
Why We’re Doing This
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Written by Will Vraspir wvraspir@hastingstribune.com Jun 23, 2022 Aiming to […]
