JANUARY 2-5, 2020

The “Two Generation” Approach to Breaking the Poverty Cycle

 

Chastity Lord

President and CEO
The Jeremiah Program

Audacious Goals

“Transformation requires changes in policy and a commitment to audacious goals,” Ms. Lord told the Forum. The Jeremiah Program’s audacious goal is to transform families from poverty to prosperity two generations at a time. The program demonstrates one of the nation’s most successful strategies, with campuses including housing and community spaces such as a computer lab, cafeteria, child development center, and laundry, in 7 cities, and additional facilities in Boston and New York. Locations are chosen based on need and the availability of donated space. All facilities are built without incurring debt.

Guiding Principles

The Jeremiah Program prepares determined, well-screened, single mothers to excel in the workforce, readies their children to succeed in school, and reduces generational dependence on public assistance.  The program program delivers:

1. Safe and affordable housing

2. Individualized coaching for achieving success in career-track college education

3. Child development programs that lay a foundation for social and economic success

4. A required, weekly life skills training program for career development, economic independence, health and parenting

5. A supportive community of participants, alumnae, and volunteers

Outcomes

The program’s outcomes speak for themselves:

• 4,000 mothers and children have gone through the program since its founding in 1989

• 91% of graduate respondents are employed or in school

• 88% of children meet or exceed age-appropriate benchmarks

• 77% have decreased their reliance on public assistance

• 68% of graduates have increased their earnings (average annual earnings =$47,609)

The Path to Systemic Change

Programs like Jeremiah have charted the path to systemic change, which begins with local moments that drive national shifts and, ultimately, lead to structural changes that have a transformative impact on local communities.

Discussion

Jennifer Jura (Edison Electric Institute): What data are you collecting on outcomes for the children in the program?

Ms. Lord: The mothers in the Program mobilize themselves as alumni ambassadors and have started to collect data on outcomes for the children. Mothers from the program are currently working on a white paper. They are empowering themselves to make a difference.

John Burchett (Google Inc): Does the program have sustainable funding, a reliable revenue stream? How do you select cities to build in, what about cities with high housing costs?

Ms. Lord: Private/public partnerships have been consistent and reliable sources of support, based on our our value proposition: great outcomes data and the re-usability of our facilities. We move people through the buildings and the program over and over again. About 160 people are moving through our holistic program of housing, early childhood development, nutrition, financial literacy and college prep, at any time. Government programs such as Head Start and Section 8 housing vouchers provide 15- 20% of our funding. Jeremiah's goal is to identify effective interventions; key strategies and structures that drive poverty resolution, and then use these proof points to drive policy.

Some key criteria drive our location searches. We look for places where the need is great and where there is undeveloped high-value land that is close to jobs and transportation, so the mothers can work and the children can get to schools. We identify great potential sites and then negotiate with owners to inspire them to donate the land. In addition to philanthropy, the tax implications for them also are attractive.

Sen. Greg Treat (OK): The program seems to be in a stage of transformational change. What are your aspirational goals?

Ms. Lord: We are in a changing world. And we are staying in conversation with our greatness. We need greater due diligence to understand the changing realities, such as the high cost of college and changes in people’s earning potential, and to develop strategies to master those changes. We will rely on the newest qualitative and quantitative data to restructure and be flexible to meet new demands. We want our mothers to move from gratitude to agency – taking on leadership roles in the program, the community, and the schools. The Jeremiah Program’s goals today are to:

• Foster an alumni network curated by mothers that provides program support until the youngest child is 18 and the family has navigated the critical pitfalls that could send them back to poverty

• Shift from child development to high-level early childhood education so children leave the program performing above grade level

• Ensure that children persist in their studies, finish high school, and have support for the post-secondary education application process

• Double the number of campuses in the next 5 years

These are shape-shifting moments and we need a constellation of stars to fulfill our mission: breaking the cycle of poverty. The work that the Jeremiah Program does and the work of Senate Presidents’ Forum is the same: we work together to educate people so they can better participate in improving the lives of all.

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Ellie Booth (Amazon) listens as Sen. Karen Spilka (MA) describes the State's major educational initiatives directed at alleviating poverty.

Speaker Biography

Chastity Lord  

Chastity Lord is President & CEO of the Jeremiah Program. A national nonprofit leader, Lord has dedicated her life to disrupting systems of inequity through a social justice lens in an effort to bridge the opportunity gap. She has a unique mix of both practitioner and executive leadership and has spent two decades specializing in organizational development, education, college access, fundraising, and leadership development.

Lord has a BA in organizational communication from University of Oklahoma and an MBA in strategy and marketing from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She is a 2012 Pahara-Aspen Fellow with the Aspen Global Leadership Network and serves on the board of Shriver National Center on Poverty and Law.