The Cost of Poverty Experience/COPE is a three-hour simulation and debriefing experience that provides a brief glimpse into what it feels like to walk for a month in the shoes of families trying their best to just survive with incomes between 100% and 200% of the federal poverty level. C.O.P.E. is an invaluable experience for people who, instead of merely talking about poverty as a problem, choose to be part of the solution to end poverty. This training is appropriate for middle school age and older individuals.

COPE has been offered in Central Florida for the past 4 years to over 1500 cross-sector community leaders from law enforcement, higher education, public schools, non-profit organizations, and faith communities.

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Be a part of the solution to reducing poverty in our community!

 

Poverty Solutions Group is licensed to offer COPE throughout the state of Florida.

Contact: cope@povertysolutionsgroup.org or visit povertysolutionsgroup.org for more information, testimonials, and application form.

As a congregation, we have declared our commitment to inclusivity and equity. This was evident from the responses in the current listening posts and congregational questionnaires – bias, discrimination, exclusion bubble up to the top of our holy discontent for most of us at St. Luke’s. We are happy to offer a workshop on culturally intelligent (CQ) approach to identify, disrupt, and mitigate unconscious bias.

This personalized, interactive, and research-based workshop is designed to help participants explore their individual biases as well as the systemic bias present in organizational processes, practices, and policies. Participants will leave the workshop with culturally intelligent strategies to disrupt and mitigate biases in their lives based on personal assessment.

Prior to the workshop, participants must complete the self-assessment. The Cultural Intelligence Center conducts the assessments and compiles personalized reports for each participant. St. Luke’s Missions will process payments through our arrangement with the Center.

The assessment…

• Measures CQ Drive, CQ Knowledge, CQ Strategy and CQ Action
• Maps 10 of cultural value preferences
• Provides personalized Development & Action Plan
• Provides comparison of CQ Scores with Worldwide Norms

Date: Sunday, June 25, 2023
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Location: B201
Cost of assessment: $25 (Fee is waived for the first 37 registrants. $25 rate offered after first 37 registrants, discounted from usual fee of $40.)

Facilitated by: Mariam Mengistie
Executive Director of Missions
Certified CQ and CQ Unconscious Bias Trainer

 

This 4-hour virtual Bridges out of Poverty experience (including breaks) will cover mental models of social class, registers of language, the eleven critical resources to thrive, and help participants consider organizational changes that would help individuals and families break the cycle of generational poverty. Participants will become equipped to engage in long-term collaborative initiatives like the Circles Campaign.

Upcoming Date:  TBA

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Led by nationally certified facilitators through aha! Process, Inc. (www.ahaprocess.com)

Want to learn how to better serve people in your life? Dignity Serves teaches a powerful new paradigm of service called ‘dignified interdependence.’ Taught from a Christian perspective, this 6 lesson study will give you a useful toolkit to apply in all areas of your life – home, office, church, and neighborhood. Want to experience less guilt and frustration trying to help people? This training is for you. It has helped thousands of people since it first hit the scene in 2008.  Led by Phil Hissom.

The percentage of children who live in poverty in the United States hasn’t changed in over a generation which means what churches, non-profit groups, and the government are doing to alleviate poverty is not working. This class is designed to help participants RETHINK assumptions we have about poverty and “the poor” so that we can RESET our understanding about the causes of poverty, and then RE-ENGAGE in the way we serve and set expectations for sustainable change.

Participants will cover the “hidden rules” of class (poverty, middle, and wealthy) and help people from all walks of life to better understand and communicate with people from a diversity of backgrounds based on the work of Ruby Payne. Participants will also gain a better understanding of our community transformation vision, how St. Luke’s understands mission from a United Methodist perspective, what the Bible says about poverty, and asset-based development.

This class will meet the requirement for Circles Allies, Family Advocates and others interested in serving in relationship-oriented mission ministries.

Participants will gain a better understanding of our community transformation vision, how St. Luke’s understands mission from a United Methodist perspective, what the Bible says about poverty, and asset-based development.  This course provides a safe environment in which to explore how you understand diversity and serving with people from very different backgrounds. 

Explore ways to balance charity or relief work with initiatives that are relational and measure long-term impact.  Participants will discuss how to move beyond charity and benevolence toward a balance of missions that includes betterment and development. The workshop will discuss mission from a United Methodist and Wesleyan perspective, what the Bible says about poverty, and asset-based development. This course provides a safe environment in which to explore how to understand diversity, the personal filter one takes into the field when serving, and serving with people from very different backgrounds.

How does racism function at a policy level to create wealth gaps where poverty, hunger and homelessness can thrive?

The Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation is an interactive tool which helps participants learn how federal policies created structural inequalities, and how these policies increase hunger and poverty in communities of color.

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Several times a year, we offer a six weeks study of this book. The book is helpful for learning how to serve others in ways that are not harmful, but rather maintain the dignity, independence, and hope of recipients. It provides insight into how to be aware of and check our intentions for undertaking acts of charity. It also provides insight into the complexities of poverty.

Bob Lupton, the author, has more than 30 years of community transformation experience in Atlanta. He wrote this book with the hope of offering tools and inspiration for the development of healthy, community driven programs that produce deep, measurable, and lasting change – transformative charity that produces community development.                                                                                                                               

CQ is the capability to function effectively in a variety of cultural contexts—including national, ethnic, organizational, generational, and many other cultures. Enhance the multicultural understanding and effectiveness of your ministry with this only evidence-based assessment of Cultural Intelligence (CQ). This is for anyone wanting to participate in a global ministry team or serving locally in a cross-cultural setting.

Upcoming Event Date: TBA