In Wisconsin’s Fox Cities area (Appleton, Kaukauna, Menasha, Neenah and numerous surrounding towns and villages), a groundbreaking poverty awareness and education initiative is providing a model for other parts of the state.

It all started in May of 2006, when a group of about 80 leaders from throughout the Fox Cities spent a day trying to understand poverty in their community. That day of learning--dubbed a “poverty plunge” or an “adult field trip”--was organized by the Community Health Action Team (CHAT) and convened by ThedaCare, a community health system with hospitals and other facilities across the Fox Cities area. For many of the participants in the poverty plunge, the facts they learned that day about poverty in their own community were shocking. Close to 22,000 people in the Fox Cities live below the federal poverty level. The hourly wage needed to pay fair market rent for an apartment in the Fox Cities was $11.27 per hour. Local federal housing programs have lengthy waiting lists. LEAVEN, Inc., a nonprofit that provides basic needs assistance to local residents, saw its number of clients double between 2000 and 2005, and St. Joseph Food Program tracked a 26 percent increase in the number of households served between 2000 and 2004.

These statistics are certainly not unique to the Fox Cities area. What is unique, however, is what the poverty plunge participants did after this day of learning. As John Stellmacher, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, describes, “These facts, and their implications, got the attention of many of us after that poverty plunge. We felt we had no choice but to take action. We realized that solving poverty is not easy, but we cannot ignore it. After all, we’re a community.”

Out of that one day of learning in May came several exciting initiatives and collaborations, including Project Promise. Sponsored by CHAT, the Appleton Library Foundation and Thrivent Financial, Project Promise was a four-month push to generate awareness, education and action to bring about positive, collaborative, systemic change. The Project was officially launched at a January kick-off breakfast attended by nearly 300 Fox Cities residents.  Since the kick-off, the project has offered numerous activities to get residents involved:

• Residents were encouraged to read Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America. Over 3,000 people borrowed the book from area libraries or purchased it through Conkeys Book Store.  Hundreds of book talks took place in businesses, libraries, homes, and churches throughout our community.
• Several Diversity Circle groups were launched to develop action plans around poverty.
• Over 300 people have participated in Poverty Simulations, in which they they role-played the life of someone trying to make ends meet.
• Twenty area business leaders formed a task force to address payday lending practices in the community and statewide.
• A Family Mentoring model for families in poverty was approved by CHAT (along with 50 percent of pilot-stage funding).
• Eleven area businesses and organizations sponsored “Lunch and Learn” seminars on money management for employees/clients.
• The Financial Information and Service Center (FISC) delivered 33 money management classes within area businesses to help provide 459 employees of those businesses with money tips that can help them get out of debt and better manage their money.

ThedaCare’s Paula Morgen, one of the central organizers of Project Promise, says, “The kick-off breakfast in January was just the beginning. We saw a ripple effect. People who attended that breakfast told family members, friends and co-workers about Project Promise and it got more people involved. It has been so exciting to see people embrace Project Promise and join our work to raise awareness and inspire action around the poverty in our community.”

After the intensive four-month push of activities, the campaign is now regrouping and determining what the next steps should be. The campaign has linked now with the Vision 2020 Campaign (www.2020wi.org) and has a series of events this fall to help channel the tremendous energy and participation of those active with Project Promise into concrete action steps aimed at addressing poverty in the Fox Cities area and statewide.

Nancy Heykes, another of the central organizers of Project Promise (and a WCCF Board Member), says that Project Promise, in addition to bringing hundreds of people together in an unprecedented poverty education and awareness effort, also helped to “ensure that our images, attitudes and ideas are informed by the reality of poverty in the Fox Cities today. Across differences, the campaign has helped us to share our vision of the kind of community we want and to take action to change things so that we all can thrive.”

Project Promise is clearly a model that could be emulated by other communities throughout our state. To learn more about Project Promise, visit www.projectpromisefoxcities.org. To learn more about poverty in your community and how to launch a similar effort in your part of the state, read about the Vision 2020 Campaign (a collaborative effort sponsored by the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, the Wisconsin Head Start Association and the Wisconsin Community Action Program Association) at www.2020wi.org, or contact Vicky Selkowe at vselkowe@wccf.org or 608-284-0580, ext. 326.