By Katie Neitzel
Women’s Fund development
and communications manager
Over the last eight weeks, Oshkosh Herald contributor Samantha Strong shared with the community the realities of poverty in Oshkosh, and specifically its effect on women. The information shared is shocking, but not unfamiliar to the Women’s Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation.
Having been a partner in the Status of Women in Northeast Wisconsin Report for the past eight years, the Women’s Fund has seen the numbers regarding women and poverty only increase. The clear evidence found in the report convinced the Women’s Fund it was time to take a proactive approach at supporting women who are living in poverty.
Oftentimes women living in poverty are a product of generational poverty. They grew up living in poverty and most likely their parents did as well. To truly help a woman get out of poverty, the barriers preventing her from being self-sufficient must be broken, especially if she has children.
The Women’s Fund has implemented a new program — RISE 2.0 — to do just that. With all her basic needs taken care of, a mother can focus on becoming self-sufficient and getting her family out of poverty.
The Women’s Fund is not alone in this venture, which was started at the beginning of 2018. Partner Evergreen Retirement Community has provided houses on their property for two mothers who are required to pay 25 percent of their income to rent and must either have a job or be in school. In collaboration with Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Center, the mothers take weekly classes on financial sustainability, parenting, and love and logic, among others.
The Women’s Fund provides funding and resources to assist the mothers with child care, education, employment and other necessities needed to allow the women to focus on becoming self-sufficient.
Both families have now been in the program for over a year and have made great progress. One mother is going to school for her master’s degree and the other has secured a job as a certified nursing assistant and is interested in learning more about a career in phlebotomy.
The goal of RISE 2.0 is for both families to be able to get to a place of self-sufficiency within three years. Through this program, the Women’s Fund is striving to gather specific data that will show how much money and resources are needed to get a family out of poverty and back on their feet.
“At the end of the RISE 2.0 three-year program, the Women’s Fund wants to have a detailed plan to provide to others who want to duplicate it,” said Karlene Grabner, executive director. “We understand that each person’s situation will be different but this study will give us a benchmark starting point. We are not equipped or have the staff to continue to run this program after the three years, but we know if we can provide the evidence-based research to show this program works, we hope others will be able to take over and expand it.”
To learn more about the Women’s Fund or how to help, visit Women.OshkoshAreaCF.org or call 920-426-3993.
