Many thanks to the Getting Ahead sites that are working with Getting Ahead investigators and CharityTracker from Simon Solutions to record the changes in stability and resources. New Getting Ahead sites are encouraged to join; the more data, the more we learn. The more we learn, the better we get at helping people get out of poverty.
The partnership with CharityTracker allows Getting Ahead sites to monitor results based on the underlying definitions in Bridges and Getting Ahead. Poverty is defined as the degree to which an individual has or doesn’t have 11 resources. It follows that as a person climbs and is assisted to climb out of poverty, some of those resources would be increased. The degree to which an individual experiences instability in daily life impacts that person’s potential to attend to building resources. It then follows that the more stable a person’s life is, the more potential they have to build resources.
In Bridges and Getting Ahead, the work of getting out of poverty lies not only with the individual in poverty. Local institutions that serve and engage people in poverty and the community itself are responsible for removing barriers encountered by people in poverty and for helping to stabilize the environment.
This national report focuses on what the Getting Ahead graduates report about their own stability and their own resources. It does not measure the degree to which the institutions and communities assist the individual. Sponsors of Getting Ahead may assess for themselves the strength of the Bridges initiative that has facilitated the Getting Ahead graduates. It is likely that the communities providing the strongest post-Getting Ahead support see the greatest opportunities.
The average number of days between assessments in this study is 161, less than half a year. That is not much time to make a measurable change in some of the stability indicators and resources.
The report provides composite data on the percent of increases in stability and resources for Getting Ahead graduates nationally. This report is shared with all sites that provide Getting Ahead. Getting Ahead sites that are subscribers to CharityTracker receive reports on their programs and a report on all sites in their state. Getting Ahead sites that collect Return-on-Investment (ROI) data through CharityTracker receive financial information, as well as the percent of change for all individuals who participate.
Thank you again to the participating sites. We look forward to the next report from CharityTracker.
