Anyone can lose their way.
When someone slides into poverty it may seem to happen all at once or, more commonly, there’s a gradual decline in circumstances caused by … well, it can seem like everything.
Anyone can lose their way.
When someone slides into poverty it may seem to happen all at once or, more commonly, there’s a gradual decline in circumstances caused by … well, it can seem like everything.
Just imagine...
- A recently divorced mother facing compromised credit while balancing childcare costs with employment.
- A man for whom an injury leads to painkiller addiction and the loss of his job.
- A person with a criminal record who has no reliable transportation to get to the few opportunities available to them.
No matter how it happens, no person experiencing poverty is facing just one challenge keeping them down. Multiple factors act on one another to exacerbate the effects and causes of poverty.
A multi-generational challenge.
Poverty due to a sudden hardship — such as joblessness or medical bills caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — is called situational poverty. Cases such as these make up approximately 20% of Cincinnati Work’s Members.
80% of CW Members come from backgrounds of poverty.
The challenges are different — something that Cincinnati Works founders wrestled with understanding in the early days of their mission. How can someone believe in their own possibility for advancement if they’ve only seen inertia?
A job is just the beginning.
Get a Job
Often, when a person does not have a job, it’s not for lack of trying. But by having partnerships with area businesses and job connection professionals, we help people apply existing skills and acquire new ones in order to gain employment.
Keep a Job
The skills needed to perform a job are one thing, but circumstances often conspire to make keeping it difficult. Transportation, childcare, unhelpful habits, or trauma, among many other factors, can get in the way. We provide services and counseling to help people maintain their new position.
Advance
The first step in advancement is creating a vision of what that looks like for each individual to help them overcome the feeling of “I just can’t get ahead.” Counseling and coaching may be necessary at this stage, but our Members have proven over and over that the cycle of poverty can be broken.
Ready to partner with Cincinnati Works?
Or do you have further questions? Fill out the form or give us a call.
See how some of our Members are doing now.
Member Success Story: Simone Epperson
Several years ago, Simone Epperson came to Cincinnati Works in dire need of a job and dreaming of a better life. As is so often the case, a job was just the beginning. Simone is
Member Success Story: Deamonta Williams
Through the encouragement of his Cincinnati Works coach and a happy accident, Deamonta Williams found himself in a car with a man looking to fill a full-time position with good benefits. Through months of diligence
Member Success Story: Raey Hill
Raey Hill has never minded getting up early to work. Even when he was in a Pennsylvania prison and his pay was 42 cents per hour, he was awake and ready to go every day.