| | | | “The Family Independence Initiative is a nonprofit, community-based organization that is considered an on-the-ground social laboratory for new strategies to tackle poverty. At its core, the Family Independence Initiative approach is both radical and as old as our republic. Their philosophy is that low-income people can advance together if we re-ignite the resource sharing, mutual support, and role modeling that has historically helped immigrant families leave poverty behind. They model new policies that reward strength and initiative (as opposed to need) and are led by the families themselves, rather than programs or professional caseworkers. “As part of the Family Independence Initiative, working poor families self-organize into peer support groups. They set personal goals for their families and obtain cash payments for reporting monthly progress, such as raising children’s grades, improving their credit score, or building their savings. Every month, participating families log onto an online reporting system to record what actions they took. They also meet monthly with their peer group to discuss their challenges and successes. Proponents of FII’s approach cite this combination of supportive social networks, consistent benchmarking of progress, and—most importantly—personalized paths out of poverty designed by the families themselves, as the key ingredients of the approach’s success.” |
