Circles is an organization that helps people get out tough financial situations. Their goal is to lower the poverty rate in Pittsburgh. People in Circles meet once every week and share how their week went, both good things and bad things. They talk about posing issues and problems. When the adults talk the kids meet and learn things that will help them in the long run of life. People in Circles make financial goals and then work towards their goal. We saw the power of people talking about how their lives were when they first arrived and how they improved after Circles. They said they made a lot of progress and were closer to their goal. They help people raise out of poverty by giving them a network of friends and skills to use. If we added Circles in Rochester, we could help lot of people and encourage more people to come and change their lives. Circles really could make a more equitable ROC by giving people friends and the support they need.

Another organization that could be a model for Rochester is Pittsburgh Youth Leadership (PYL). PYL is a non-profit organization who takes low-income, at-risk youth on biking adventures across the United States. PYL was founded in 2006 by Mark Rubenstein, a Pittsburgh-based lawyer. Young participants gain a greater sense of leadership and are able to accomplish something they didn’t think was possible. PYL helps support youth by teaching them they can do more than they think they can. PYL has helped youth to stay out of trouble and jail by giving different choices. By having the youth go on the bike adventures, they were able to see different parts of the United States.

Rochester can learn from PYL to help youth by offering different choices to help keep them out of trouble. One of the reasons PYL began was because generations of men were committing the same crimes. Some of the crimes were selling drugs and stealing. Rochester could learn from this by looking at the crimes youth are committing to see if there is a pattern.

detroit

The Empowerment Plan kick-starts the process to help people get out of poverty and homelessness. They offer everyday necessities that people need, but also have things that are beyond what people might give to someone that faces homelessness. The most important thing they do is offer jobs and job training. That's very important to a person who faces homelessness.The first contribution of the Empowerment Plan is hiring people in poverty to work in their factory to make coats. The coats are special and turn into sleeping bags and duffel bags. The second is that they are making coats for the homeless in Detroit, and have also distributed EMPWR coats across the nation. The Empowerment Plan also partners with local agencies to help its workers with financial help, literacy skills, and education.

Rochester can learn from this organization to help the homeless in Rochester and hire them to help the other homeless people. One business that has a focus on helping women is Healthy Sisters Soup and Bean Works. They help women who “come from backgrounds of chronic unemployment, poverty or displacement.” They package soup mixes, dips, and coffee that are sold in local stores. There are a few places in Rochester that help the homeless get jobs and offer job training. Some of them are Homeless Connect, Rochomeless and Raihn.