Getting Ahead graduate reports (data provided by CharityTracker)

CharityTracker provides regular reports on Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World outcomes that are related to improvements in stability, resource development, and financial return on investment. The latest report covers time beginning on September 11, 2013, and ending on December 31, 2023.

Looking at the attached report makes me think of how much work went into measuring the changes in personal lives that these numbers represent:

Financial resources increased by 16%.
Motivation resources increased by 13%.
Housing stability improved by 23%.
Expenses were reduced by 25%.

These are a few of the amazing results that represent the hard work investigators are putting into creating stability.

The work begins with each Getting Ahead investigator completing a self-assessment of fifteen stability indicators in Module 2 and a self-assessment of eleven resources in Module 7. This has to be done at least two times; once during the Getting Ahead program, and a second time several months later.

In addition, some Bridges communities collect return-on-investment information for each investigator by measuring monthly income, decreased monthly and total debt, increased assets, and a decrease in the use of public benefits.

It is worth noting that this report covers the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted from late 2019 through mid-2022. Many Getting Ahead sites were forced to stop offering Getting Ahead. Others were able to quickly move to providing Getting Ahead virtually.

The work involved in collecting and reporting this data is just a small part of the effort that the numbers represent. We appreciate all the communities that contribute their results to make this data rich. Behind this are Getting Ahead graduates who, day by day and month by month, make concrete changes to increase stability in their lives and build resources.

This data allows you to compare your community with others across the country. It is also valuable to support your grant applications for continued growth and support in changing lives. We trust this information is helpful to the sites that have provided Getting Ahead and to communities that want to offer start offering Getting Ahead.

Click here to read about more Getting Ahead success stories.

Click here to download three PowerPoint slides for your use.

About the Author: Philip DeVol

Phil DeVol is an international consultant who has been working with aha! Process since 1997. He used aha! Process concepts to make institutional changes at the addiction treatment center where he was the executive director for 19 years. During this time he also co-wrote Bridges Out of Poverty with Ruby Payne and Terie Dreussi-Smith. His book Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-by-World is being used to engage people in poverty in the work of building communities where everyone can live well. It worked so well that DeVol used it as a basis for a prison reentry model called Getting Ahead while Getting Out. He works with community leaders to help them move quickly from an attraction to application of Bridges concepts. Getting Ahead and Bridges are being used in hundreds of communities in the U.S., as well as a number of sites in Canada, Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. His books have been translated into Spanish, Slovak, and Czech.