Relationships help break cycle of poverty in new Washtenaw County program

May 02-- May 2--YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Bird Williams felt trapped after losing the job in academic publishing that supported her middle-class lifestyle.

After being laid off from her job in North Carolina in 2011, Williams, 56, decided to move to Ypsilanti in 2015 to be near her significant other at the time.

By then, she was taking contract jobs in publishing. But when she married her partner, her income jeopardized the government-subsidized health coverage her spouse and step-daughter relied on to pay for their healthcare needs.

Williams couldn't afford to spend $900 a day out-of-pocket on the medical care they needed and the contract work didn't provide health insurance, so she had to give it up.

"It just put us in a situation where we went backward," she said. "It was very hard to go forward because I had to factor in what their healthcare would cost as well as what our living expenses cost. It was very hard to find a job that would allow us to move forward."

In 2017, Williams connected with a Circles program introduced to Washtenaw County by Ypsilanti nonprofit Friends In Deed. There are 70 Circles chapter nationwide and in Canada that aim to help people permanently move out of poverty.

"Although we serve immediate needs and help people through crises ... really motivated hard-working people just kept needing our assistance," said Suzanne Van Dam, Circles coordinator for Friends In Deed. "They would weather one storm and then end up in another a year or two later."

Williams joined 11 other people for 12 weeks of training for Washtenaw County's first Circles cohort. Once the Circles "leaders" completed the training, they were matched with two "allies" to guide them through another 18 months of programming.

Allies are financially secure, emotionally stable and have a personal network that can help connect people living in poverty with middle-income or high-income resources, Van Dam said.

"It's based on a relationship," she said. "People go that extra mile."

Every week, allies and leaders share a meal and updates on their lives, and child care is provided. The program covers topics like resume writing, budgeting, nutrition and how to achieve goals like paying down debt, attaining higher education or finding safer housing.

Last month, eight people in Washtenaw County's first Circles cohort celebrated completion of the program. Six of them now have full-time jobs, Van Dam said, and within the first year, participants had increased their collective incomes by 200 percent.

"The people who are in poverty gain access to and an understanding of a more middle class world," Van Dam said. "And the people who are not in poverty also understand the complexity of poverty. It's not just, 'Tighten up your budget a little bit' or 'Go get a job.'"

Circles provided Williams with the connections to Michigan's publishing industry she needed. In 2018, she was hired for a senior management position at a publishing and aggregating company in Detroit.

"I think (Circles) got the formula right for how you work at an individual level and at a community level to permanently move people out of poverty," Williams said. "It's enabling people to succeed. It creates this community so you're not alone in the struggle that you can't find your way out of."

Nikia Smith, 34, of Ypsilanti, was living paycheck to paycheck -- working for a catering company and then at a nursing home -- before she joined Circles.

Her allies encouraged her to get the training to become a certified nursing assistant, a certification she had previously held and then let lapse when she moved out of state for several years.

Having her CNA allowed Smith to obtain a higher-paying job at a nursing home in Ypsilanti, which she's held for about one month now. She's also considering continuing her nursing education, with the support of her allies.

"Going back and getting my CNA has made a big difference," Smith said. "It has made me feel more confident as far as saving money and not just living check-to-check and month-to-month. I can breathe now, I have some wiggle room."

With her better-paying job, Smith said she can afford to fix up her vehicle, invest in a savings account, pay for her 9-year-old daughter's school trips and enjoy things like a dinner out at Wendy's once in awhile with her daughter.

Smith learned better money management skills through Circles and how to clean up her credit score, which has been helpful when applying for apartments, she said.

She and Williams have both joined Circles "big view" committee that advocates for systemic changes that could help more people break the cycle of poverty.

Circles matched its second cohort of leaders and allies in December 2018, and the program is now recruiting for another cohort to start this summer.

Smith recommended Circles for anyone going through a "rough patch" where they don't know what they want or what their options are.

"Circles can bring some kind of order to everything and bring some encouragement," she said.

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