Overarching
Goal: The goal of all of the 2004 working
sessions was to allow people from a variety of backgrounds and sectors to bring
their expertise to bear toward creating a fundamentally different model for
thinking about and addressing poverty. All sessions explored topic-specific
content using a common design structure to ensure that results can be rolled up
consistently to inform a cohesive change strategy.
Session
1: Redefining Poverty (August 18-19, 2004)
Session
Objectives: This working session had five
objectives:
1)
Share a compelling case for change and articulate a vision and set of
principles upon which to build strategies to fundamentally change the way we
think about and address poverty as a nation.
2)
Catalog the current definitions and measures of poverty and assess their
utility in moving toward the stated vision.
3)
Identify some key elements of a desired future state (i.e. what it would
look like in the ideal) from the perspectives of the individual, the community,
and society. These elements go beyond the snapshot of the conditions of poverty
(based on the income/consumption definition) to the individual, social, and
economic capacities and dynamics that are more fully representative of the
causes of poverty and the solutions to it.
4)
Identify some of the areas in which work must be undertaken (i.e. change
levers) in order to close the gap between existing and the ideal states.
5)
Brainstorm preliminary strategies for filling the gaps.
Session
2: Community-Based Solutions (August 25-26, 2004)
Session
Objectives: This working session had five
objectives:
1)
Share a compelling case for change and articulate a vision and set of
principles upon which to build strategies to fundamentally change the way we
think about and address poverty as a nation.
2)
Review key themes of current community-based efforts to build capacity of
low-income individuals, families, and communities to compare/contrast with the
stated vision.
3)
Identify some key elements of a desired future state that describe what
it would look like in the ideal for communities to 1) develop local leadership;
2) create community engagement; and 3) successfully implement
‘whole-community’ strategies for addressing poverty.
4)
Identify some of the areas in which work must be undertaken (i.e. change
levers) in order to close the gap between existing and the ideal states.
5)
Brainstorm preliminary strategies for filling the gaps.
Session
3: Family Economic Security (September 7-8), 2004)
Session
Objectives: This working session had five
objectives:
1)
Share a compelling case for change and articulate a vision and set of
principles upon which to build strategies to fundamentally change the way we
think about and address poverty as a nation.
2)
Review the current state relative to four key areas that impact family
economic security—basic income (including work supports), acquisition of
growth and assets, mainstream goods and services, and public policy and
compare/contrast with the stated vision.
3)
Identify some key elements of a desired future state for each of the four
areas (i.e. what it would look like in the ideal) from the perspectives of the
individual and the community.
4)
Identify some of the areas in which work must be undertaken (i.e. change
levers) in order to close the gap between existing and the ideal states.
5)
Brainstorm preliminary strategies for filling the gaps.
Session
4: Maximizing Technology (September 14-15), 2004)
Session
Objectives: This working session had five
objectives:
1)
Share a compelling case for change and articulate a vision and set of
principles upon which to build strategies to fundamentally change the way we
think about and address poverty as a nation.
2)
Review key areas of the current technological state and its impact on
individual and community impoverishment in areas such as access to technology,
use of technology in providing services to individuals, use of technology for
integrating information for community-based strategies, the use of technology
for connecting individuals to resources, etc. and compare/contrast with the
stated vision.
3)
Identify some key elements of a desired future state relative to
technology (i.e. what it would look like in the ideal) from the perspectives of
the individual, the community, and service delivery (e.g. access to and
availability of technology for individuals in connecting to resources, improving
education, and strategic use of information technology for communities).
4)
Identify some of the areas in which work must be undertaken (i.e. change
levers) in order to close the gap between existing and the ideal states.
5)
Brainstorm preliminary strategies for filling the gaps.
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Chapter
1 Chapter
2 Chapter
3 Chapter
4 Chapter
5
Appendix A
(21st Century Model to Address Poverty)
Appendix B (Poverty
Programs Summary and Matrix)
Appendix C
(Issue Papers)
Appendix C1 (Initiative
context presentation: Characteristics of Successful Change)
Appendix
D (Income and Work Support Policies and
Strategies)
Appendix D1 (Working Session Descriptions)
Appendix D2
(Working Session Descriptions, continued)
Appendix E (Working
Session Descriptions, continued)
Appendix E1
Appendix E2
(Current state presentation: Highlights from the research)
Appendix F (Participant
List)
Appendix G
(Project Staff List)
