Program Overview

Building a new community within an existing community.

A community engagement model that works to increase community education and build intentional relationships across race and class lines

Circles of Support incorporates a new multifaceted approach to help families move out of isolation and poverty: Circles of Support - Matched Circle Program and Circles of Support - Community Engagement. Both bring people together to dispel stereotypes, strengthen connections across socioeconomic and cultural divides, and help families with low incomes move out of poverty.

Matched Circles Program

This program consists primarily of volunteer Allies and women and their families who fall below 200% of the federal poverty guideline.  We currently have 11 Participant families involved in Matched Circles and 28 volunteer Allies.  The goal of Matched Circles is to assist and support Participants who are pursuing educational or vocational goals.

Community Engagement Strategy

The Circles of Support Community Engagement strategy has engaged 896 community members over the past three years through collaborative cross-cultural workshops, social-class forums, and poverty education presentations. The strategy utilizes monthly meetings and ongoing community outreach to increase cross-cultural interaction, reduce social isolation of people in poverty, and discover solutions to combat poverty. The broad objective is to engage the wider-community in eliminating barriers that keep poverty in place.

Download our Getting Ahead class flyer here.

Getting Ahead - Duluth is a program of Community Action Duluth that began in November 2008. Since then, six classes have graduated – the first in January 2009. Getting Ahead-Duluth has engaged 162 families since its inception.

Getting Ahead - Duluth works with families who are either moving from MFIP to work or families spiraling into the welfare system. These families often are identified as working poor, who live at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline.

The Getting Ahead workshop provides workers with low wages the opportunity to take a panoramic view of their condition. It allows them to fully differentiate between the impact of personal and systemic barriers. Participants examine the causes of poverty, learn how to build their assets, and conduct a self-assessment of personal and community resources. Armed with new information and understanding, they analyze the impact of poverty on themselves and their community. They discuss the issue of social class on personal, community, and systemic levels to understand poverty, middle class, wealth, and the "hidden rules of class." Understanding these "rules" allows people to use them as tools to meet their needs, provide for their families, and get ahead.

The information and tools gained in Getting Ahead - Duluth help participants develop and expand social networks, find jobs, and succeed in school. They develop action plans to stabilize their economic situations and realize goals set during the workshop. Childcare, a hot meal, and a small stipend are provided to participants at each meeting.

View the Pucks Against Poverty PowerPoint Summary

In April 2010, we broadened the Community Engagement strategy and embarked on a poverty awareness campaign called “Pucks Against Poverty.”

The year-long campaign faced off on Saturday, April 17, 2010 and ran through Sunday April 17, 2011. This campaign "against" poverty was power-packed and energizing, designed to raise awareness and bring people together to dialogue about concerns impacting the working poor families in the Northland. We campaigned to get people involved in the lives of their neighbors who are struggling just to make ends meet.

The goal of Pucks Against Poverty was to engage more than 5,000 people in community service learning, art projects, community dialogues, and neighborhood outreach to raise awareness about issues and barriers faced by Duluth's working poor.

Poverty is NOT only about MONEY it's about PEOPLE!

1. People need a livable wage job to succeed; as a community we need to campaign and work together as to bring livable wage jobs to Duluth.
2. People need non-traditional community supports in order to strive towards and achieve their purpose in life. As a community we need to support continuing education opportunities for working families.
3. People need to feel that they are a part of our community to break patterns of social-isolation.
4. People need to understand the issues of poverty. For instance: Did you know that if you are a family of 4 making about $44,700 per year that you fall within the federal definition of being within (200%) POVERTY? 47% of our community falls within 200% of the Federal Poverty Guideline.

Click here to download our PowerPoint Summary

Download our RAW Workshop Flyer here.

RAW - Race Awareness Workshop: Where Talk Leads to Action. A workshop designed for cross-cultural dialogue about the institution of racism and a catalyst to bring about understanding of the personal, structural, and systemic realities of this problem.