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philanthropic and government partners. Our journey began in 2007 when a national foundation brought together teams of leaders from five communities to learn about how best to increase the financial assets of financially vulnerable populations in those communities. We realized we had a rare opportunity in the nonprofit world so we needed to plan and research before launching an initiative. We also had a bold donor who would only fund our work if we spent the first year planning and learning. So we started with research and something that is common in the for-profit world but not in the nonprofit worldwe conducted market research with focus groups of people in poverty to find out what they needed. The first thing we learned was that people cared passionately and fiercely about their children. Every single person said they were willing to do whatever was necessary for their children to have a better life. What also emerged was how difficult it is to live in poverty. When people think about assets they immediately think about money. But assets are more than financial in nature. We organized our thinking about assets into Social Human and Financial Assets Social Assets Assets required for taking care of children and building productive relationships with others. Human Assets Assets to attain knowledge skills and abilities to earn adequate income. Financial Assets Assets to effectively manage money and build wealth. We then conducted a pilot program with 100 families to determine what assets were most important and how they could be built. We found nine pivotal assets that were critical. When families obtained at least seven of these assets they more than doubled the probability that they would successfully move out of poverty. See sidebar on page 38. We are highly frustrated with a world where so many children live in poverty and Jacksonville is committed to a different outcome we desire an outcome where families can enroll in a program with evidence-based practices backed by solid research. This led to development of our 1000 in 1000 programmoving a thousand people out of poverty in a thousand days. This is not a handout program. Families must work for and earn their way out of poverty. They must systematically build the Pivotal Assets that are needed for a life of self-sufficiency. We want to change the system so that people who are willing to work hard have the opportunity to get ahead. HOW YOU CAN HELP FAMILIES IN POVERTY I n order to engage in long-term planning families have to be at a place of basic stabil- ity. When people are in crisis they have no capacity to plan for the future. So first families need stability when they are in crisis. Acknowledge that access to quality food is an issue particularly at the end of the month when WWW.AGRM.ORGMAYJUNE 2016 37 Povertys Impact on the Family Despite the recent increase in family homelessness little is known about the impact of homelessness on family relationships Elizabeth Lindseys article The Impact of Homelessness and Shelter Life on Family Relationships explains the findings of a study that explored mothers perceptions of how homelessness and shelter life affect relationships in mother-headed families. The moms reported increased closeness and better quality and quantity interaction with their children but felt that their roles as disciplinarians and providers or caretak- ers was disrupted. The things that mothers felt were factors affecting relationships were shelter conditions such as rules and interactions with staff and residents the mothers emotional state and the childs emotional state temperament and behavior. This is not a handout program. Families must work for and earn their way out of poverty. Continued on page 40