Program works to assist those mired in poverty

Student Ikentina Haynes, left, dances with Crystal Harris, before the start of class in the Bridges Out of Poverty program.

Sylvia McLester said she never knew she was living in crisis.

The pressure to make ends meet while working jobs with little prospect for advancement was normal, everyday life, she said.

Ms. McLester, 36, part of the first graduating class of Getting Ahead, which is part of the larger Bridges Out of Poverty program, thinks differently after the 15-week program that ended this summer.

She wants to help other poor women think differently, as well, she said.

"I just accepted where I was," Ms. McLester said recently at the James C. Caldwell Community Center in North Toledo, where the Getting Ahead classes were held.

"I didn't realize how unstable I was. I just learned to live with things and found ways to get around them instead of making them better."

Bridges Out of Poverty is a program created to teach professionals and those living in poverty how to move beyond its effects.

Experts say this program differs from others because it also trains professionals in the social services field how to understand the challenges of those in poverty.

The program, under way in other urban communities across the country, was created by Ruby Payne and Philip DeVol, co-authors, with Terie Dreussi-Smith of the book Bridges Out of Poverty.

Ms. McLester and three other women in the program - Rita Gunn, 47; Carlotta McCollum, 36; and Catherean Marshall, 27 - said they had learned to live with less.

Ms. Marshall said some of the advice in the program was practical, such as learning how to ask for something properly.

"There are certain ways you have to say some things," said Ms. Marshall, who now plans to attend college. "I was not the type of person to do things that way. I learned I can't do that. I have learned how to talk to people a certain way to get the things that I need, because just saying it doesn't get you want you want."

The county, through Lucas County Jobs and Family Services, spent $150,000 on the program the last fiscal year. The county committed another $380,000 in the fiscal year that started in July. The Lucas County Family Council and the Community Partnership administer the program, said Dave Kontur, executive director of the family council.

"My concept is that anybody in Lucas County [government] who has to interact with anybody in poverty has to be trained in this program," County Commissioner Pete Gerken said. "It will change the attitudes of people sitting across the desk from anybody they don't understand.

"We targeted North Toledo because of what we learned" during the October, 2005, riot, Mr. Gerken said. "That wasn't about Nazis. It was about poverty. It was about a community that felt left behind."

Crystal Harris, who was an instructor for the program this year, suggested that graduates write down their goals and constantly re-evaluate them.

"If you still have this thing on your list, and it's been five years, you have to realize you've got to get moving. A lot of times, you don't even realize that you're stuck or going in circles. Putting it on paper makes it real," she said.

Ms. Harris said learning how different social classes communicate with each other is just part of a code that people in poverty need to learn to take the next step. She also said professionals must learn what it's like for those in poverty to learn best how to reach them.

Ms. McCollum said since going through the program she changed her friends and looks for more positive influences.

Ms. Gunn said the things she learned during the class helped her win a job, and she also registered for course work at Owens Community College.

Ms. McLester said she plans to return to help teach the next Getting Ahead class.

"Something just came over me to reach out to people who are where I was and just don't realize it," she said. "If you can change one thing, it could start a domino effect.

"I hope they look at me as a personal testimony. It's hard to tell something to somebody if you've never been through it. They look at who you are," Ms. McLester said.

Contact Clyde Hughes

at: chughes@theblade.com

or 419-724-6095.