A Minnesota woman with a working-class accent helped a group of middle class Mississippians understand poverty from an insider’s perspective.
A cross-section of Starkville, about 130 people of diverse walks of life, spent a day in August at the city’s Sportsplex to participate in the Bridges Out of Poverty workshop, which has had success at decreasing poverty throughout the nation.
The mostly middle class audience from the Starkville and other parts of the state listened to national facilitator Jodi Pfarr explain life from the lens of those living in poverty.
The result of the workshop ranged from opened minds to a renewed plan to help eliminate poverty in Oktibbeha County, an area with about a third of its residents living in poverty, according to the 2010 Census. Attendees from other parts of the state listened to find opportunities in their communities.
Starkville Bridges Out of Poverty organizer Lynn Phillips-Gaines said the workshop showed people in her community care about helping the less fortunate using a method of empowerment.
“People care and want to make a difference,” said Phillips-Gaines, a certified financial planner.
Phillips-Gaines sees Bridges Out of Poverty as a good initiative for Starkville and Oktibbeha County because of the organization’s focus on empowerment and including people in poverty as partners with those in the middle class. However, she cautions that no “silver bullet” exists to eliminate poverty. Instead, a long-term approach with a community-wide investment can help make substantive changes for people living in poverty.
“This shows a solution that may not change things in a hurry,” Phillips-Gaines said, “but this approach can and will work.”
The Bridges Out of Poverty workshop helped the audience transcend traditional barriers in society. Without mentioning political and other labels that divide people, the group of different colored people with varying religions, political backgrounds and ages listened to find different perspectives from their own on how to understand the poverty mentality.
For instance, the group learned that people in poverty often value strong relationships higher than achievement, something usually ranking highest with those in the middle class. Sally Gray, Parent Coach with Parents for Public Schools in Tupelo who attended the workshop, said her daily experience often involves helping people living in generational and situational poverty look at education as a way leave poverty.
“I would like to see my native state someday climb off the bottom of every list of health and well-being,” Gray said.
Many in the workshop found viewing poverty from an insider’s perspective will help them as they look to find ways to help their community.
“We don’t have all of the answers,” Cade Smith said of people living in the middle class. “Developing relationships with others helps build dialogue and reflection that can make a lasting difference.”
After the workshop, the next step for Starkville involves launching a “Getting Ahead in a Just Getting’ By World” program, which partners middle class residents with those living in poverty for more than seven weeks. The first class will begin on Oct. 4.
Seeing the community respond to Bridges Out of Poverty has inspired Phillips-Gaines.
“People do care and wish to make a difference,” she said. “It was a glimpse of the kingdom of God.”
Robbie S. Ward is a member of the Bridges Out of Poverty Steering Committee in Mississippi.
