Opportunity. Education. Success.

Pam Brookshire, CANI's Vice President of Community Services, wrote this post for Inside CANI. 

It’s graduation season. If you're like me, you've probably been receiving invitations for ceremonies and parties to celebrate the success of the students in your lives. These invitations make me think about my 17-year old daughter who is a junior in high school. She’s in the beginning stages of choosing a university. Though which school she will attend is still unknown, what is known and expected is that she’ll go to college and attain a four-year degree. That’s been the expectation since she was a minute old and her father and I have worked hard to ensure she has the opportunity.

I juxtapose her situation with the young people in our JAG program. (JAG stands for Jobs for America’s Graduates). Funded and supported by Northeast Indiana Works, CANI employs JAG Specialists who work with high school juniors and seniors who are in danger of not graduating from high school. This year CANI is working with 560 students in 14 high schools across northeastern and north central Indiana.

There are a myriad of reasons why students in the JAG program are at risk of not graduating: lack of credits, poor attendance, etc. JAG is a class that the students take, just like math and English. The CANI JAG Specialists lead the class and work with each student to first, get them to graduation and second, lead them to a career goal and a plan to get there.

Unlike my daughter, many of these children grow up without the expectation or a dream of going to college. Many of them live in poverty, with all the stress and chaos it brings. Some of them are already parents themselves or have parents who were too young when they were born. Many of their parents and grandparents never went to college and may not understand the value of an education. In our country, the quickest, surest path to poverty is to become a teenage parent and/or drop out of high school. The JAG program aims to curtail poverty by helping students avoid these causes of it.

With the JAG program, students are provided a multitude of experiences, a support system, and the tools to achieve a successful post-secondary career. The JAG Specialists work hard to assess each student and then develop a plan to get and keep them on track to graduation. They do this through classroom instruction and one-on-one mentoring.

The Specialists do all they can to inspire these kids to find their calling and pursue it. There are classroom speakers, college fairs, college visits, job shadows, and paid internships during the summer. When students discover a career that they wish to pursue, the JAG Specialists help them find the right college and ways to pay for it. Not every JAG participant goes to college, by choice or anything else. Many go right to work and even more join the military. Once the students graduate, the JAG Specialists provide one year of follow up to ensure that they have all the support they need to remain on their paths.

JAG not only focuses on education, it provides opportunities to develop leadership and employment skills. There are two events each year where students improve their public

CANI JAG student Emari Carroll from Marion High
School accepts an award from Commissioner
Scott Sanders of the Indiana Department
of Workforce Development.

speaking, writing, interviewing, marketing, and leadership skills. The students learn different styles of leadership and participate in team-building activities with the Indiana National Guard. During the Career Development Conference (CDC), students from each high school compete against one another for the chance to move on to the state level. This year, CANI’s JAG students earned eight awards at the state competition!

As an anti-poverty advocate for 27 years, JAG is one of my favorite programs. For one, JAG truly addresses one of the main causes of poverty: lack of a high school diploma and post-secondary education. Second, JAG provides opportunities for young people to aspire to something and take control of their futures. JAG changes lives in ways that other anti-poverty programs are not able to because it helps young people early in their adult lives. The success is evident in the numbers. In the 2012 - 2013 school-year, students in the JAG program achieved a 92 % graduation rate and a 76 % full time job and military placement rate!

How can you help? Advocate for additional funding at the state and federal levels and donate to CANI directly. Governor Mike Pence has taken a serious interest in JAG and has provided state funding to all JAG programs in Indiana. This funding allowed CANI to go from 9 high schools to 14, 360 kids to 560. However, there are a lot more students out there that need what the JAG program offers.

My heart breaks for all the young people in our state who don’t have any dreams or hope for their futures. I wish that every child had the support and means to achieve their career goals as my daughter does. But that isn’t the reality - yet. Until then, I’ll watch with pride and honor as the 560 students in the current CANI JAG program graduate high school and work toward making their dreams come true.

Are You A Community Hero?

My favorite superhero character has always been Captain America. I think it's partly because he was in the military (which I've always loved) and partly because his name is Steve, like me. But more than that, Captain America is passionate about his cause. He is always willing to give up his life for his country, freedom, and the safety of other people.

It’s fun that CANI's United Way workplace campaign this year is incorporating the theme of superheroes, and it makes me think of Captain America and his cause. At CANI, we have a cause as well - to eliminate poverty.  We are soldiers just like Captain America, in the fight against poverty.

The United Way is an important ally in this fight against poverty. They support our programs in highly significant ways and they are the largest private funder that we have.

We are partners with the United Way in many different community initiatives, including the Case Coordination System, 211, and the Education Network, to name just a few. Most importantly, their goals are basically the same as our goals. The support they provide to the community - via funding to local agencies, volunteer mobilization, and advocacy - in the end all these things help the very same people that we are working to help as well.

I cannot overstate how much I believe in the work of United Way and what they are doing in our communities. As we begin our workplace campaign here, I hope that you might find it in your heart to donate to the campaign. Many workplaces, like CANI, make it really easy through payroll deduction. I know that I don’t notice the donation that I make each year - as a little bit comes out each paycheck - yet I know that what I give is providing resources that accomplish great results.

Please consider a gift to United Way today. You can even designate gifts to your favorite organization or your favorite initiatives. Any amount that you can provide is a great help to our community and the people who live here.

What are the needs in our community?

Last month, CANI released our annual Community Needs Assessment. This is a critical study for us because it is truly the basis of what we do here at CANI. Our board and staff utilize the assessment to build plans for the future and design our programs in a way that best meet the needs of our community. It is an important read for anyone who is working to help people in Northeast Indiana.

The assessment attempts to look at a number of different areas that impact poverty. While we do not have the resources to be fully comprehensive, it is an excellent tool that helps us see the issues families and communities face.

Our findings this year are consistent with what we’ve been seeing over the last several years. The majority of low-income families are working, but are not earning enough money in their jobs to be economically self-sufficient. These families generally have lower education levels, which is a primary indicator of how much income families have. In fact, if someone has just a high school diploma or GED, it is simply not enough education to earn a self-sufficient wage.

Housing continues to be a critical issue for low-income families as well. While over two-thirds of the entire population owns their own home, two-thirds of low-income families do not. Five percent of those served by CANI have been homeless in the last twelve months. The majority of low-income families pay over 30% of their income on housing, which robs them of the ability to meet their other needs.

Single-parenthood continues to be a major indicator of poverty. This not only deprives a family of the potential for two incomes, but it also creates issues with transportation, child care, and other barriers to self-sufficiency. In our communities, reliable transportation is simply critical to get to a job. If a family does not have child care, they cannot be employed. That is why transportation and child care are two areas that need to be addressed if we are going to help families become self-sufficient.

What we have seen over the last five years is a dramatic increase in unemployment and poverty rates. The damage that our economy has suffered has been felt by our most vulnerable citizens. The CANI Community Needs Assessment illustrates the poverty issues that we face in Northeast Indiana. It is an excellent resource as we continue our work, but we hope it will also be informative for the entire community. I invite you to use it and share it with others. The full study can be found on our web site and at the link here:

http://www.canihelp.org/WhoWeAre/Documents/CNA,%202013.pdf

Does Head Start Work?

I have heard many, many comments over the last couple of months about a study released in December, 2012 on the impact of Head Start (the OPRE report). I have heard from various commentators that this study proves that Head Start does not work, that it has no impact on the children we serve. And yet this could not be further from the truth.

If one reads the study that these commentators refer to, they will find the report full of positive comments about Head Start. Here is one:

“There were statistically significant differences between the Head Start group and the control group on every measure of children’s preschool experiences measured in this study.”

It also states that “The differences in magnitude were quite large, driven in part by the large proportion of children in the control group who were in parent care (i.e. nearly four out of ten children remained at home with their parents when Head Start was unavailable to them). Yet, analyses excluding those children, and thus comparing only children in Head Start and control groups who were in non-parental care, largely showed the same pattern of differences, albeit somewhat smaller.” Differences on every measure. The differences were quite large. These are just a few of the many positive findings throughout the study.

I am using the very study that is being cited as showing that Head Start does not work, and it clearly shows how well it does work! Critics however have latched onto the fact that the study shows that the positive impacts of Head Start seem to disappear by the third grade. Let us think about this finding for a moment...

This study shows that Head Start children, in one or two years of service provision, receiving a half-day of services over the school year, had significantly positive impacts versus a similar demographic control group. But, over the course of three full years of schooling after the fact, their gains diminish. The study states that after leaving Head Start “the study children attended schools with much higher levels of poverty than schools nationwide with higher proportions of minority students.” In addition to the schools that these children attend, we must remember that they are members of families who are below the Federal poverty level. They do not have the resources at home that many of us who are fortunate have to continue to support their children’s education after they leave preschool. We all remember that parents are the number one teacher, right?

I am not writing these things to blame elementary schools or parents for the results of this study. These  groups do as much as they can for the children they love, and face immense obstacles that we must continue to help eliminate. My point is that what we become as adults is not because of some magical year or two in our lives as children. It is the combination of educational experiences throughout our childhood; flowing from our parents, each of our schools, and the communities where we live. To suddenly expect Head Start to maintain gains well after children have moved on to other schools and the rest of their lives seems ridiculous to me.

Up to this point I have commented exclusively on the study that is cited itself. But another point that critics neglect is that there are hundreds of other studies that show Head Start’s positive impacts well beyond the 3^rd grade, and in fact into adulthood. The OPRE report itself states that “we do not yet know if there will be positive outcomes for HSIS (Head Start Impact Study) participants later in life, however, research suggests that positive outcomes later in life are possible.” These studies consistently show that Head Start impacts include higher educational attainment, higher earnings, crime reduction, less use of public assistance, and lower mortality rates, to name a few. Just one example of these studies was produced by Harvard’s David Deming. His study found that Head Start’s long-term impact “is about 80 percent as large as the gains from the Perry Preschool and Carolina Abecedarian” programs. These programs are viewed as two of the most effective preschools in the country!  Head Start costs about one-third as much.

I invite readers to do a web search on “Head Start Impact.” You will find lots of commentary on the OPRE study, many that use it to point out that Head Start does not work. You will also find lots of results leading you to other studies that contradict the OPRE study. Read the OPRE study and some of these other studies and form your own opinions.  I am confident that you will feel as I do, that the incredible work that our Head Start program does is a fantastic investment in our children and our nation’s future.

Where Will You Be in 2015?

At the beginning of a new year, many people set resolutions or goals for what they want to accomplish in the upcoming year. At CANI, we set resolutions every three years for where we would like to be – these resolutions are called our Strategic Plan.

Last Thursday night CANI’s board approved our Strategic Plan, which will guide our efforts at eliminating poverty through 2015. One of my favorite things about working here is that we have a philosophy that we’ll accomplish a lot more if we are ambitious and come up short, versus being conservative and accomplishing everything. And as usual, we have adopted a very ambitious strategic plan.

We have six long-range goals:

1.      The first, in a nutshell, is to develop an integrated system of services that can meet any needs for any family we see. This goal includes providing a host of programs that we have traditionally provided as well as developing programs that are needed in the community but not provided by anyone else. For instance, a major objective for the next three years is to develop new homelessness prevention programs, as well as expand services to Veterans.

2.      The second goal is to increase the provision of services that build assets for families and individuals. In truth, most of our programs are aimed at building assets, but this goal might be considered to mean more direct, higher impact asset-building activities like increasing access to capital by expanding our lending programs.

3.      Our third goal is all about community development, because we know that we must work on the conditions that low-income people live in as well as their own individual issues. In addition to housing development and system-building, we will expand our advocacy efforts, expand our AmeriCorps program to better support other organizations, provide capacity-building assistance to other organizations, and be available to step up as a convener of community collaborations.

4.      We also recognize that to provide great service, we must be a great organization. We have a detailed plan to do just that - our Blueprint to Greatness. This plan includes a significant number of initiatives modeled after Jim Collins’ “Good to Great”. We will enhance our board and staff, continue to ensure excellent accountability and transparency, and increase our technology, to name a few examples.

5.      The fifth goal relates to increasing our public awareness and increasing our flexible financial resources. Increasing awareness of poverty is a key strategy for us, as this leads to better understanding across the community of issues low-income families face, which in turn leads to better advocacy, greater support for CANI and our partners, and even more people helping their neighbors. We also want to increase our fundraising efforts, expand our Energy Saver Consultants business, and expand our fee-for-service activities.

6.      Our last goal basically relates to most of the others to one degree or another. We need to increase the focus on our service area outside of Fort Wayne. CANI’s service area includes twelve counties in northeast Indiana. The majority of the low-income families in this area live in Fort Wayne, but there are thousands of low-income people that live outside of Fort Wayne. 

I am always excited after we complete one strategic plan and develop a new one. This is the fourth strategic plan I have worked on at CANI, and as I look back I can see the truly impressive impact of our process. We have never accomplished all that we set out to do, but we have always accomplished many great things in our plans. This plan will be no different, and we've already gotten started!

For much more detail, check out the plan for yourself at http://www.canihelp.org/WhoWeAre/Documents/strategic_plan.pdf

Fighting Homelessness - Fighting Poverty

I am really excited that CANI has launched two new programs in the last couple of weeks. Well, they are technically new, but are very similar to work that we've started over the last couple of years. The programs are very similar in nature. Both are modeled after the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP), which CANI has administered for the last couple of years in our region.

HPRP was started as a pilot program across the country using ARRA stimulus funds through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Those funds of course have come to an end, but HPRP was so successful, that HUD has shifted some of its traditional funding into starting a new program using this model.

The goal of HPRP was to prevent long-term homelessness by rapidly rehousing homeless families (or preventing them from becoming homelessness in the first place) by providing short-term rental assistance. This is obviously an important stabilizing benefit, but of more importance was that the rental assistance was combined with intensive case management services. The goal of the program was to make families housing stable by the time their rental assistance ended, which was around nine months.

CANI has served hundreds of families with HPRP across eleven northeast Indiana counties. These families are basically the hardest to serve, because of their homeless situation, and the vast majority of these families left the program with stable housing. It was imperative that we find a way to maintain this program locally, and nationally as well.

I am excited to say that after a gap of about 10 months, CANI is once again serving families using this model. The program does not have an official name yet, although we have been referring to it as ESG (Emergency Solutions Grant) because of the funding from HUD that goes by this name. The program is smaller than before. We can only serve Allen County now, instead of all of the counties in our service area. And the funding mix is much more complicated, but still we consider it quite a victory to have been able to piece this program back together.

We have many partners to thank for this effort. Most notably, the City of Fort Wayne has combined funding from several of their programs to serve clients from inside the city limits. The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) is providing about half of the funding. Our fantastic partnership with Lutheran Social Services continues with this program, as they will be helping us provide the case management for the program.  Our local United Way, through its 211 program, will be providing initial screening on potential clientele. And we will be working with area housing shelters in close partnership, as they help families move from their crisis situation into our program.

In total, this is a unique collaboration that combines the services of many different organizations, and provides clients with two vitally important pieces in their quest to become self-sufficient: housing and case management. I am proud that CANI has a key role in providing this program in our community.

The other program that has started is nearly a carbon-copy of the program I've described above. It is called Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF). It too combines rental assistance with case management, but with less rental assistance and heavier emphasis on case management. I am really excited to be working with Veterans. I am a Veteran myself, and I feel that communities need to do much more to help these families with their very unique issues. We have long wanted to do more for Veterans here at CANI, and this is a significant step.

I have written many times about the need to help families meet their basic needs so they can focus on developmental goals. Shelter is at the top of that list. I also believe that case management, and especially CANI’s own Family Development model, is one of the most successful poverty fighting programs that we have. Starting two new programs that combine these vital services is a truly exciting step for our organization and the communities that we serve.

It's That Time of Year Again!

If you have kids, you know what time it is – it’s back to school time! Most kids are not that happy to be ending their summer vacation and getting back to “work”. Many parents, on the other hand, are just a little happy to get their kids out of their hair for a while each day. (It is no different in my household!) But all kidding aside, I am also excited that my kids get to go back to school to continue their education.

We all know the importance of education. Studies show that children develop 85% of their intellect, personality, and skills by age 5. Early childhood education has a profound impact on the development of children and who they will become as adults.

This is why I’m so proud of CANI’s Head Start program. Because each and every year, we are working with about 800 children between 3 and 5 years old, setting them on the path of lifelong learning.

Head Start is a truly comprehensive preschool program. Our teachers do an excellent job preparing children for kindergarten and the years beyond. But we also focus on the health and nutrition of the children, which are important factors in their early formation. Likewise, we work closely with the families of our children, because we know that a child’s most important teacher is his or her parents.

Besides early childhood education, decisions that young people make in high school have a profound impact on their adulthood. The two most important indicators of poverty among those that CANI serves are education level and single parenthood. Those with a college degree or equivalent credential earn about twice as much annually as those with only a high school diploma. The gap only widens for those without a high school education. And while single parenthood occurs for a number of reasons, one reason is young women having children while still in high school.

Working with youth is critical to CANI’s mission, which is why I’m so pleased that CANI now has the JAG program (Jobs for America’s Graduates.) This year we will work with approximately 350 youth in 9 high schools throughout our region. The goal of the program is to work with students to help them stay in school, access post-secondary education, and secure quality entry-level jobs that lead to career opportunities.

So as our community goes back to school, CANI is going back to school as well. I love that we can have such a great impact on young people through Head Start and JAG. To learn more about these programs, check out our web site, www.canihelp.org.

Opportunity is the Key at Any Age

Yesterday, I turned 40 years old. My family, friends, and coworkers have made it a wonderful week of celebration for me. Aside from the many comments about me now being “over the hill,” I have also had several people ask me: “Are you where you expected to be at 40?”

As a teenager and young adult, I had no desire whatsoever to work at a social-service organization. I certainly knew about poverty, but it was not one of “my causes.”

I came to work at CANI thirteen years ago because I couldn’t find employment in the field I thought I wanted to work in. I needed a job, so I took one here. I continued to look for a position elsewhere over my first several months at CANI. But what I know now that I didn't know then is that I got exactly the job I was meant to have. Life is funny that way, isn't it?

CANI has provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. I found a career at CANI, for sure. I also met my wife at CANI, and I would not trade our relationship, or our children, for anything else in the world.

But what I have really found at CANI is a cause that I believe in. I have never lived in poverty myself, but I was fortunate to have worked as a case manager in my first nine months at CANI. I worked with families very closely and I saw the issues they faced and how hard they worked to improve their lives and their children’s lives. Their stories, as well as the stories of the thousands of families we have served since then, continue to fuel me today.

When I think about where I am today, I think about the opportunities that have been provided to me that have helped me get here. Two incredible parents who provided for me at great sacrifice to themselves, and who shaped me into the adult I am today. A wife who has supported me every single step of the way and is my most important partner in life. An excellent education, from pre-school all the way through graduate school. Military service that truly changed me from a boy into a man. Friends and coworkers who have supported me throughout my life.

How we take advantage of opportunities is what defines us as individuals. But you have to have opportunities first. That's what we are providing here at CANI: Opportunities for communities, families, and individuals to build brighter futures. And I couldn't be prouder than to work for an organization that does that.

May is National Community Action Month

May is a pretty special month for CANI, as it is officially National Community Action month. During this month we spend a little extra time and effort as a national network raising awareness about poverty, the issues low-income families face, and the work that Community Action Agencies do in their communities to combat these issues.

Awareness is a critical tool for us, now more than ever. While some have started to feel positive outcomes from the improving economy, there are still thousands of people in our community struggling to recover themselves. They face unemployment and struggles keeping their family housed and utilities paid, many for the first time in their lives.

Yet at the same time the demands for our programs are higher than normal, social service organizations face a struggle themselves. Federal budget cuts and tougher-to-come-by charitable donations have meant decreasing budgets and programming locally, at just the time when we need to be expanding. For these reasons, it’s as important as ever to raise awareness about poverty in northeast Indiana, and resources to fight that poverty.

During May, and even a little into June, CANI will pump up our own efforts to raise awareness and provide opportunities for people to get engaged. On May 17^th we will be conducting our signature event – our Poverty Simulation. This is simply an excellent opportunity for people to participate in a fun and engaging activity, that provides a taste of the issues that low-income families face. Past participants have reported that it was a moving, eye-opening experience for them. And so our goal is to conduct these simulations as often as we can, and May 17^th is the next opportunity for you to participate. More information can be found here.

On May 21^st, join us from noon – 2pm as we celebrate the grand opening of Hopewell Pointe – a 35-home affordable housing subdivision in Waynedale. These wonderful new homes are providing a life-changing opportunity to the families who are now living here. The development has also been a valuable economic investment in this southwest Fort Wayne community.

On June 7^th we will host our annual golf outing at Noble Hawk Golf Links in Kendallville. CANI Golf is one of our top fundraising events of the year and is a great way to support our fight against poverty while having a great time as well. We still have openings for teams and sponsorships. Participants routinely state this is one of the best outings of the year!

Besides events, we hope that you will see and hear more of us in other ways as well. Check out our recently launched, new and improved web site – www.canihelp.org. And our 2011 Annual Report should be in your hands by mid-May. The Annual Report highlights stories of individuals and families who have fought poverty in their own lives and have achieved great successes.

The purpose of all this activity is to put poverty front of mind in our community just a little bit more. If we can mobilize people to support our cause, advocate for the issues, and give of their time and financial resources, together we can fight poverty and build hope in our neighborhoods, communities, and northeast Indiana.

The Spirit of Giving

As we approach the heart of the holiday season, the spirit of giving is at its yearly high. A lot of us are busy trying to find that perfect gift for friends and loved ones. This can be stressful. Why do we do it?

You’ve heard it said that giving is better than receiving. As a kid, I thought that was a really crazy idea invented by adults to stop us kids from complaining when we didn’t get what we wanted. But it turns out to be true… giving heartfelt gifts feels really great!

I know it may seem self-serving for me to tell you that making a donation to CANI will make you feel really good. But it’s true. Imagine the power of a gift that helps people who are struggling to make ends meet. Imagine a family who cannot put enough food on the table, or is facing eviction or foreclosure, or having their heat disconnected during this cold winter season… and then imagine that you can help.

Without question - in my twelve years at CANI - I have never seen the demand for help so great. We are literally getting over 1,000 calls per week for heating assistance. While we have been able to help more people in certain areas, we continue to have waiting lists in virtually every program we provide. And I know that we are not alone - our partner agencies are experiencing the exact same thing.

Unfortunately, this increased need has been coupled with more pressure than ever before on the resources we have to help people. CANI, like many organizations in our community, has seen funding cut severely or altogether for some programs. This very simply results in fewer resources to help people at a time when we have more people to help.

My appeal to you now is to consider a gift that will last longer than the holiday season. CANI is just one of many agencies in our community that can help you give a gift that you can feel really good about now and throughout the year. If you give to your United Way, your local food bank, or your favorite other social service agency - it will help people. You may even know someone yourself who is struggling – you can help that person or family directly.

If you have the ability to give, please consider a gift to those who are less fortunate – those whose needs may be greater than yours at this moment. There are so many ways you can help – how you do it is not important. The important thing is that you do it. 

Giving Thanks

It may be cliché to write about what I am thankful for – but I am going to do it anyway. After all, Thanksgiving is next week and we are supposed to reflect on all that we are grateful for in our lives, right? CANI is a huge part of my life, so I can’t help but think about all that I am thankful for through my work here.

First and foremost, I am thankful for the wonderful people that I get to work with each and every day. The employees at CANI are highly professional, highly skilled, and above all, highly dedicated to helping people and serving our mission. There are tough days in this business we’re in, and I watch you work hard every day to do all you can to serve the people of northeast Indiana. Thank you.

Here are some other things I am thankful for (in no particular order):

Our Funders (not to be confused with our founders – who I am also thankful for)

Obviously we could do nothing without you. You provide us with financial resources that help people. But more than that, I am thankful for the relationships that we have developed. You help us do our work better.

Our Individual and Business Donors

Donations are critical to us because they help fill the gaps of other funding sources. I know that there are many charities out there that are deserving of your gifts. I am thankful that you have chosen us and our mission as your cause.

Our Volunteers

In particular, our wonderful Board of Directors and Head Start Policy Council members. You help make CANI go every day. You provide excellent leadership and direction for this organization, and I am excited to get to work with you in the coming years.

Our Partners (of which there are many!)

CANI has many different programs, and I am proud of the partnerships we have developed in each one. We work closely with governmental entities, faith-based organizations, businesses, and many, many more. We could not do our work without you.

Our Clients

You may be in a tough spot right now, but we appreciate the opportunity to serve you. We see your love towards your family and how hard you work to meet their needs. It is inspiring! We will continue helping you in any way we can as you work toward your goals.

Our Communities

Whether you know it or not, almost every one of you is involved in some way with our mission to eliminate poverty. When you vote.  When you advocate for other people.  When you contribute to your church, school, or favorite charity.  When you help your neighbor or family member. I appreciate all that you do in the communities where we live and work.

So there you have it… now it’s your turn. What are you thankful for?

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Dealing with fluctuating funding levels is not new for CANI. We administer lots of different programs and manage multiple funding streams… and they change literally every year.

However, this year has been a little more stressful than normal for CANI and the families we serve through our Energy Assistance Program (EAP). Our ability to help people pay their utility bills is heavily dependent on a Federal grant that we receive each year. Last year our funding was over $6 million and we served over 12,000 households with those dollars.

Right now we are waiting on Congress to finalize their budget for the upcoming year. What you generally hear on the news is the debate surrounding the politics involved. What we see locally is the effect of the debate not being resolved – thousands of people calling us each week and no guarantee that we will be able to help them.

Because the Federal budget has not been resolved, we can currently only count on 25% of last year’s funding level. This 25% is funding that the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority has allocated out of their own reserves to get us going. At this moment, no Federal funding has been allocated to support heating assistance as we head into the winter months in Northeast Indiana.

As of this week, we have received enough applications and set enough appointments to expend all of the funding we have received so far – and it is not even November yet.

As I said above, fluctuations in funding is normal for CANI as it is for most nonprofit organizations. But the last two years – as both our economy and political environment have been in flux – have been particularly tumultuous.

The most difficult aspect of trying to manage our programs and funds in an environment of uncertainty is seeing the need and not being able to help. And the waiting…

Waiting until we know more so we can make decisions about how to help people the best that we can. One of our least favorite things to do is tell families, “We don’t know… call back later.” We know that families – more than any other time since I’ve been here – are under stress, struggling to make ends meet. But we simply do not know right now whether the funding will be there to serve them.

What I do know is that despite the environment we’re in right now, we have not lost our focus on our mission. We are going to continue to do whatever we can to help communities, families, and individuals eliminate the causes and conditions of poverty. There have always been obstacles to overcome. There probably always will be. But we will keep on making the most of all the resources that are available to us and keep looking for new and better ways to help people overcome their obstacles.

This I am sure of.

What is Poverty?

The Heritage Foundation’s recently released a report on the state of the poor in the United States entitled “Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today?”

This report does not provide the “full picture” of what it means to be poor in America. I fear it leaves out some imperative context needed to fully understand poverty and poverty-related issues. In short, there are more issues to consider than touched upon in the report.

First of all, we as Americans, tend to have a distorted view of what it means to be impoverished in America. It’s easy to look at people suffering in Africa and associate that with “poverty.” Truth be told, poverty is relative. It can mean everything from living on $1.00 a day in Ethiopia (global poverty), to qualifying for free or reduced lunches in the Midwest (poverty in our backyards.)

According to the Foundation’s findings, “the typical poor household, as defined by the government, has a car and air conditioning,” among other things. Additionally, the report states that “some 96 percent of poor parents report their children were never hungry at any time in the prior year.”

The Foundation posits that these items (car and air conditioner) are luxuries, not necessities. I would like to contest that the current era and standard of living needs to be taken into account. I realize there are alternatives to car ownership. Still, public transportation does not meet most people’s needs.  Reaching employers, schools, child care providers, grocery stores and all things we need in our lives simply make private transportation a key need for every family in America today.

As for air conditioners, the mere presence of one is not an indicator of income. It’s not unusual for a rental unit to have one included in the cost of rent; therefore there is no “extra” cost associated with it. What’s more in warm climates, where the temperature can be unsafe (100+ degrees in the summer), air conditioning becomes a health issue. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to heat exhaustion, dehydration and other related issues.

I question the methodology for obtaining the data on child hunger.  Maybe most families are not going hungry because they seek help in the form of food banks or food stamps. (Proof that there is a need for anti-poverty organization like food banks.) Furthermore, there is a psychological component to this question. What parent would want to openly admit that their children are going hungry? The survey is only as accurate as the responses provided, no matter how off base they may be. The sheer embarrassment and guilt of not being able to provide for would certainly affect parents’ responses.

Reports like this offer a chance for public discourse surrounding issues like poverty. And for that reason, I am happy that the report seems to have started a conversation even if we all don’t always come to the same conclusions. Indeed there are always two sides to an issue. But poverty is so complex that we must not put too much stock in a single report that only speaks to outward appearances. There is generally a lot more going on below the surface.

CANI's Service Delivery Model

In my last blog post, I spoke about CANI’s mission and the various aspects of what it all means. I wanted this time to delve further into our philosophy to reach every family and individual who lives in poverty and provide services in a timely, coordinated manner, so that they can leave poverty behind forever.

CANI serves over half of all the people in poverty in Northeast Indiana every year. Because of this, we are one of the few organizations that can have a true impact on our area’s poverty rates. The trick, of course, is having the system and resources in place to help move all of these families out of poverty for good. That is our challenge, but that is exactly what we’re trying to do.

What does this system look like? Typically a family comes to us for help with a single issue. For example: they need help with their utility bills, or a housing situation, or child care. But what we know is invariably these families have more than one issue they’re facing. If they can’t pay their utility bills, they likely have issues with other bills as well, or they are struggling in their employment situation, or are lacking a certain level of education. They may even be dealing with domestic violence or addictions issues. The point is:

Every family is unique, but almost always, their situation is more complicated than a single program or service will solve.

Our goal then is to build a system that no matter who comes to us or for what reason, we take the time to fully assess the family’s situation, not just their “presenting need” (the reason they came to us.) This process is undertaken together with the family, so that both parties see a more complete picture of the situation.

The key piece then is the next step. When multiple issues are identified we want to be able to provide services to families that meet all those needs, and in a timely manner. Timeliness is crucial. I often think about the finger in the dam analogy here. Families can fix one “hole” at a time, but if they can’t fill all the holes at once, the dam continues to leak and eventually gives way.

And when we speak about services to meet all needs, we’re working on that in two ways. First, and the most desirable, is to create truly integrated relationships with our partners within the community who can provide needed services. By “integrated” we mean, not simply giving a name and number to call, but actually providing access to the service, perhaps even delivering our partners’ service ourselves.

The second way is to add services that CANI itself delivers where it is determined that there are gaps in our community. (In future blog entries, I’ll explain more fully our concept of what the spectrum of family needs is, and more specifically illustrate our collaborative efforts with partners.)

We believe our concept is a good one, but our challenge - why this isn’t fully in place today - is that all this takes resources. Our grants and funding often are constructed in a manner that provides barely enough funding to simply deliver one service, certainly not to provide for the extra time we need to spend with a family to make this concept work.

But we are working every single day to develop those resources and make this system a reality. When we do, we’ll have even more impact on families and our community than we do today.

CANI's Mission or Why I Work at CANI

As I sit here contemplating what my first blog topic should be my mind keeps going back to our mission. After all, our mission is where it all starts. It’s what we’re all about. It dictates what every person in this organization does every day and how we do it.

And – while I love working at this place and love working with the people here – our mission is why I love this job so much.

CANI’s mission is to help communities, families, and individuals remove the causes and conditions of poverty. Sometimes, when we’re in a hurry to tell our story, we abbreviate that statement, and just say our mission is “to eliminate poverty.” While I think that is fine at times, our full mission statement is important because it conveys the full scope of what it will take to actually eliminate poverty in our community.

The first part of the statement talks about helping communities, families, and individuals. This is an important distinction. I usually describe this part of the mission as “macro” and “micro” level efforts.

Definitely, a very huge part of what we do every day is helping people on the “micro” level, with families and individuals themselves. Our basic philosophy is to reach every family and individual who lives in poverty and provide services in a timely, coordinated manner, so that they can leave poverty behind forever. (I will cover this more in my next post.)

But poverty is also impacted by bigger, “macro” types of issues like the systems and policies that affect people and the economic conditions in which they live. Tackling these issues requires work in advocacy, system-building, capacity-building, and economic development.

The second half of our mission statement is just as important as the first: “remove the causes and conditions of poverty.”

Obviously, our greatest hope is to get to the root causes of poverty, because ultimately that’s where true, lasting change will occur. We would much rather “teach someone how to fish” rather than “give fish away.” In fact, the bulk of what we do is developing programs and designing systems that help families get at the root causes of the issues they face.

However, to comprehensively fight poverty, we cannot ignore the conditions of poverty.

This is where Maslow’s hierarchy of needs applies in our world – people need to have their basic needs met before they can concentrate on higher needs. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to focus on things like getting an education or building assets when you must be focused on things like how you’re going to eat today or where you will be sleeping tonight.

Can we ever eliminate poverty?

In my 12 years at CANI I’ve had many, many people tell me that we can’t. But I believe emphatically that we can! It’s a huge job – and it might take longer than I’ll be around – but here’s the very simple reason why I know we can do it…

I see families we serve leave poverty behind all the time.

Why do we presume that not everyone can do it, when we have proof that so many can? It’s CANI’s challenge, and privilege, to help all families and individuals in our community leave poverty behind forever.