Getting Ahead
Graduates receive tools to break cycle of poverty
Nine women took a giant step toward improving their lives Nov. 29 as they graduated from Cooperative Christian Ministries and Clinic’s Getting Ahead program during a ceremony at First Baptist Church.
CCMC offers this free, weekly, four-month course to help participants discover the resources needed to break out of the cycle of poverty. The program, facilitated by Dr. Mike Prince and Paul Jacob, taught the graduates how to change the “just getting by” mindset, a news release said.
The Getting Ahead graduates created their own plan for a sustainable life, explored resources they would need for sustainability, learned how to build healthy relationships with others, began the process of writing their own future stories, and examined how to change the legacy they will leave to their families and community. Each participant had to go through an application and interview process before being accepted into the program.
“The Getting Ahead class has opened my eyes to areas which will be beneficial to my financial future, such as budgeting, saving, and investing. I have already begun saving and have a little emergency fund set aside,” graduate Pharia Pollock said in the release.
Another graduate, Elisabeth Wiles, said, “I have been given the resources to get myself out of poverty and to provide a better future for myself and my children. I have dug deep inside myself and learned where I am emotionally, mentally, and financially so that I can work to better those areas of my life. I can put my past to rest and begin living in the present and planning for the future.”
Getting Ahead is part of the Bridges Out of Poverty program, which CCMC brought to Hot Springs in 2015 as a way to help communities learn new ways of looking at poverty. Bridges Out of Poverty was developed by Ruby Payne and Getting Ahead was authored by Philip DeVol to bring a unique understanding of economic diversity that can give
individuals, families, and communities new ways of solving problems and provide greater stability within the community, the release said.
CCMC’s Getting Ahead is possible through partnerships with churches, community organizations, and local businesses.
Future Getting Ahead groups will be forming soon. There are two information meetings for potential participants that will be held on Thursday and Jan. 10 from 10-11 a.m. at CCMC, 133 Arbor St. For more information about these meetings, call Dian Glover at 501-318-1153, ext. 301, or email dglover@ccmchs.com.
CCMC is a nonprofit organization that offers case management, medical services for adults who are uninsured or underinsured, and limited pharmaceutical, dental and vision services for CCMC patients. More information about CCMC is available at http://www.ccmchs.org.