Serving Anson, Chesterfield, Montgomery and Richmond counties, the Hands for HOPE (Helping Organize People for Empowerment) Regional Community Development Corporation envisions non-competitive collaborations with other entities to address the barriers of social, economic and political freedoms at all levels in the Pee Dee Basin Region.

     Our organization is designed to enhance and offer additions in programming to currently existing programs in the four-county region, and to establish new programming when it does not exist. Our organization does not operate any programming except to ensure that grant guidelines are followed and measured success is available for all persons and things.

     Targeted areas for improvement are:

• Faith-Based Counseling
• Female Empowerment
• Literacy
• Transportation Assistance
• Tutoring
• Parenting
• Natural Resources
• Animal Life

OUR BELIEFS:

We believe that we are a strong local grassroots faith-based organization made up of volunteers.

We believe that our Board of Directors is dedicated, committed, and team-oriented.

We believe in the value and worth of each individual being empowered to pursue their economic, social, and political freedoms.

We believe in the economic well-being of the population through entrepreneurship.

We believe in the empowerment of people for economic and emotional well-being, and support their independence and self-determination.

We believe in the value of a faith-based organization which promotes the above declarations.      Hands for HOPE Regional Community Development Corporation has been incorporated since December 2002, and a 501(c)3 non-profit organization since October 2003.

     The organization's regional office is located at First United Methodist Church, 118 E. Morgan St., Wadesboro, N.C.

     (April 29, 2009) -- Is it possible that a church-led, community-wide effort can help Anson County end generational poverty? First United Methodist Church and members of a community-wide guiding coalition in Wadesboro think it can.
     With a 21.3 percent poverty rate, and a 14.8 percent unemployment rate, Anson County has been chosen as a pilot site for the Circles Initiative for North Carolina. Two other counties, Yadkin and Wilkes, were also selected by Board of Global Missions of the United Methodist Church as pilot sites in the United States, and four other sites have been selected in Europe and Africa. These sites will eventually become training stations for other communities interested in adopting the Circles Initiative. Hands of Hope and First United Methodist Church are taking the lead in introducing Circles to the community. The goal, according to the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, is to take 75 families and work with them closely for up to two years to lift them from poverty to a sustainable income level.
     The Circles Campaign is not new. It began as an initiative of the Move the Mountain Leadership Center in Ames, Iowa; and has been implemented in 18 states to date in partnership with aha! Process, Inc. and the Bridges program. The aha! Process, Inc. was formed by Dr. Ruby Payne and is a result of her groundbreaking book, “A Framework for Understanding Poverty”. Dr. Payne’s work is used nationwide and she is recognized as a leader in helping understand and address the issue of poverty in education. The objective is to end generational poverty (a family classified as poor for two or more generations) by including the community in the process.
     The Circles program takes persons in poverty and pairs them with members of the community who are willing to act as mentors or allies and will support their efforts to break free of the cycle of poverty. For example, mentors might explain how to use a checking account, help the person find transportation or daycare, or set an example of middle class work ethics. The key ingredient often missing from other efforts to end poverty is critical in Circles: relationships of mutual respect across class lines.
     Hands of Hope, a non-profit community development cooperation founded in 2003, will be the lead agency. Hands of Hope was largely dormant until pastors and members from United Methodist churches in southern Anson County met last year to discuss ways of getting involved in the community. Noting that the group was racially one-sided, other people who shared the same interest, such as members of HOLLA! (Helping Our Loved Ones Learn and Achieve) and from the community, were invited to join in order to make Hands of Hope a racially balanced group. Generational poverty was identified as the largest issue facing the county.
     This group contacted agencies that could provide financial resources, such as the Albemarle District Mission Society, the Duke Endowment, Z. Smith Reynolds, The Rural Center of North Carolina, Golden Leaf and the Board of Global Missions of the United Methodist Church. Grants were submitted for potential funding.
     Rob Rollins, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Wadesboro, asked Scott Miller, co-founder and CEO of Move the Mountain, to meet with Hands of Hope and other interested members of the community and explain the concept behind Circles. Rollins is a certified trainer in Bridges Out of Poverty and has completed training for Getting Ahead and Circles.
     An initial guiding coalition, drawn from the original group of pastors and community members, met on April 28 to plan for a workshop open to any persons who would like to know more about how we might begin to look at this issue in our community. From that group will come those who have a “call and a passion” to end poverty. Those who attend will use the book “Bridges Out of Poverty” to better understand the three classes as described by Dr. Ruby Payne as Poverty, Middle-Class and Wealth.
     Rollins gave as an example that people in a lower economic class are tuned to immediate survival, whereas those in the middle class are tuned to future goals. Those in the upper levels (the wealthy two percent of society) are more focused on the past and tradition. “Bridges Out of Poverty” helps each group to understand the other, building relationships and understanding across class lines.
     “It looks at poverty from more than one perspective,” Rollins said. “It helps the community realize that we all have a stake in the problem and the solution. The first step is starting a Circles program is to do a “Bridges Out of Poverty” workshop to look at the hidden rules and change how we look at poverty.”
     Do these programs work? This year, the Ohio state legislature set aside $1.3 million for 14 Circles sites and is mandating Bridges training for those in the social services profession. Industries in communities where Circles has been implemented have seen their need to continually recruit and retain new employees drop dramatically. Anson County has the opportunity to not only be a pilot site but a model community of how to end generational poverty.
     “Every dollar spent on the Circles program saves two dollars in welfare and puts four dollars back into the community,” Rollins said.
     A Bridges Out of Poverty training workshop will be held June 6 at a place yet to be determined. Information on how to register will be announced.
     Donations toward the purchase of the workbook (cost is $15) are tax-deductible and can be mailed to Hands of Hope, c/o First United Methodist Church, 118 E. Morgan St., Wadesboro, N.C., 28170. Make check payable to “Hands of Hope”.
          -- Reprinted courtesy of the Anson Biz-Zine

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