with People in Poverty Lynda Coates Poverty Consultant Agenda - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

On the Road to Diabetes Education, April 1, 2011 Concrete Tools for Working with People in Poverty Lynda Coates Poverty Consultant

Agenda Agenda Poverty Poverty in in the the U.S. U.S. 1: Understanding Understanding Behavior Behavior 2: Communication Communication 3: Strategies Strategies 4:

1. Poverty in the U.S.

An Insider’s Perspective

An Insider’s Perspective

Why do so few people move out of poverty in the U.S.?

U.S. Poverty Facts

America is the land of...

1. E Education is t the w way t to a achieve social m mobility. • Earn a degree • Learn a skill & literacy

Wage R Reality • No degree or skill = minimum wage Most earn about $2.00 above • minimum wage after 20+ years.

2. Social f factors foster p poverty. In the last 20 years, • Value of minimum wage declined. • Fewer jobs for low-skilled workers. • Gov. $ for social programs reduced.

3. H Housing i is o out o of r reach. • Minimum wage earners spend majority of income on rent. • HUD/Section 8 has up to 3 year wait. • Must re- apply if you don’t receive and respond to notification letter. • Unpaid traffic tickets can be barrier to housing.

4. W Welfare do does no not p provide relief. relief. • $22,350 = federal poverty level, family of 4. Families need twice that much. • Current benefits for a parent & 2 kids is 29% of the federal poverty level. • About $500 a month in Oregon. • 20 yrs ago it was $408. • Disability payments are also insufficent.

5. H Healthcare is d difficult to access. access. • Focus on daily survival limits preventative care. • Barriers: transportation, day-care, $, navigation. • Doctor to Patient relationship intimidating. • Lack of empowerment. • Bad experiences at free clinics. • Gov. Insurance = not easy to get services.

6. P People a are p punished for t their situation. situation. • Cities arrest people for sleeping on streets. • Kids who are late or failing in school miss out on recess or fun activities. • Parents are allowed only 2 years of higher education on welfare. • Messages of not good enough/trash.

US Social System Model: Coping vs. Moving Up

2. Understanding Behavior

There are different kinds of Poverty in the U.S. ...each shape behavior differently

Ge Gene nerational l Po Pove verty  Family never owned land/property  No relationship with anyone educated.  Don’t know others with living wage jobs.  Highly mobile, move frequently.  High Illiteracy.  Focus on making it through the “day.”

Wo Work rking g Po Poor or  Working, but rarely have $  Most do not own land/property  Live check to check  Few have health care  Focus on making it two weeks or month  Poverty seen as personal deficiency

Im Immi migrant t Po Pove verty  Have little or no resources; more barriers  Language and cultural barriers  Seem to do better than those born into poverty in America  Poverty viewed as a “systemic problem”

De Depr pression n Er Era a Po Poverty  Societal message: “We are all in this together”  Poverty was seen as a societal problem  No shame or blame  People who had resources moved back up  Can be harsh critics of others

Si Situ tuational l Po Pove verty  Grow up stable  Surrounded by educated adults  Has crisis, income drops  Generally able to move back to middle class  Has not internalized poverty as own fault  Does not recognize privileges  Can be harsh judge others

Think... What have you been taught to believe about people in poverty?

Common Perceptions Common Perceptions of of Behavior Behavior • Dont take care of themselves, dirty. • Unmotivated and don’t want to work. • Education is not a value or priority. • Don’t attend school functions or meetings. • Waste money, buy things don’t need. • Abuse the social system, greedy. • Keep having babies to get more welfare.

Exercise

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS OF EXPERTS.

F INISHED F ILES ARE THE RESULT O F YEARS O F SCIENTI F IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE O F MANY YEARS O F EXPERTS. SEVEN Fs

PERCEPTION  How our mind makes sense of things.  What we are trained to pay attention to.  Result of past experiences. Beliefs shape perceptions

Common Perceptions Common Perceptions of of Behavior Behavior • Dont take care of themselves, dirty. • Unmotivated and don’t want to work. • Education is not a value or priority. • Don’t attend school functions or meetings. • Waste money, buy things don’t need. • Abuse the social system, greedy. • Keep having babies to get more welfare.

To effectively serve people in poverty we must: 1. Examine our beliefs/Perceptions 2. Withhold judgment 3. Communication effectively

Perception shapes what you believe is possible for yourself .

Comparison of Perception

Growing up, both experienced: Housing = Homeless, camping Food = Scarce, food banks, sandwiches Entertainment = Each other, singing Education = Fragmented

Regional Influences

Relative as role model Donna & & Lynda 1975

Influences 1989 Lynda Tammy

Lynda at 19: Adequate, stable Housing

Tammy at 19: Homeless, Camping

Lynda: Trying new foods & fun

Tammy: Unhealthy foods & Embarrassment

Lynda’s Entertainment Trafalgar Square, Vegas London

Tammy’s Entertainment The Water Hole

Lynda & Donny 1988

Tammy’s Experience Experiences • Only people she knew were in poverty • No one telling her what is good about her • No sense of belonging, only status: mom • Basic needs not met: homeless, hungry • No meaningful connections with anyone educated

Lynda’s Experience Experiences • Opportunities to succeed • Address Book of people not in poverty • Teachers telling me my strengths • Belonging , Middle-class friends • Basic Needs , Housing, Health Insurance • Connections to role models, Mentors

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Do you believe Tammy lives in poverty because she is lazy?

Think... Who are the people that influenced you? How did they help you shape your perception of yourself?

We cannot communicate, connect or teach if we are judging. Withhold Judgment

3. COMMUNICATION

What percentage of communication is non-verbal?

Walter Walter Ong Ong: : Orality Orality & Literacy & Literacy Oral Oral Print Print ~ N Natural ~Learned ~Learned Ho How b w bal alan ance ced d ar are e yo you? u? Both h have value!

Oral Communication Every human being is born oral .

Overall: RELATIONSHIP FOCUSED  Get info from others.  People are focus.  Depend on each other.  Need to trust & feel connected to person giving info.

Spontaneous  Absorb info via all senses (sight, sound, etc). Take in multiple data.  Ability to bounce from task-to-task with ease.  Comfortable with multiple stimuli.  May appear unfocused & easily overwhelmed.

Repetitious & Story Telling  Information is inside self, uncategorized.  Need to hear info multiple times to remember & connect to real life.  “Stories” keeps info alive and helps memory.

Holistic  See “Big picture” (taking in all data)  Concrete learners. Visual info is best understood.  Thinking abstractly is secondary.  Do not always apply knowledge to different contexts.

Emotional  Relationships are the most important. “Do you like me?”  Few boundaries on sharing emotions or info.  Difficult to disconnect self from the situation.  Negative feedback taken personally.

Present Oriented  Highly in tune with what is happening today.  Not much “hope” that tomorrow or future will be different.  Ability to enjoy the moment.

Agonistic  Connect with others and build relationships via physical touch.  Learn best by using hands.  Use their bodies to express emotion – good or bad.

Self-Disclose  Connect with others via sharing personal info.  Need reciprocation to feel connected.  Once they feel connected, few boundaries on info sharing.

Print Culture Learned way of communicating Reading for info trains the brain to think differently than oral culture.

Ov Over erall: : TI TIME ME is is th the e fo focu cus  Brain i is trained to think in terms of t tasks, goals and challenges.  Time i is most important, above everything everything else. else.

Linear  Reading trains the brain to think in “first this, then this” fashion. N L R I E A  Brain develops ability to break data/concepts into parts = categorize and classify.

Analytical  Reading trains brain to shut out sensory data and focus.  Ability to analyze info, one idea at a time.