WELCOME TOTHE PACE

CURRICULUMHTTP://WWW.UWEX.EDU/CES/FLP/PACE/

Cynthia Muhar

Family Living Educator

Milwaukee County Cooperative Extension

PERSONAL REFLECTION Recall the first experience you can

remember regarding poverty.What emotion do you recall feeling at that

time?

What impact did that event have on you then? What about now?

What do you think of that situation now? Have your feelings or perspectives changed?

WHAT IS PACE?

PACE is a poverty education curriculum for UWEX educators developed by the Family Living Poverty and Food Insecurity team.

PACE incorporates a continuum of learning which begins with building awareness and ends with a call to action.

HISTORY OF PACE Ruby Payne’s Bridges out of Poverty

curriculum was being used by UWEX educators.

The Poverty & Food Insecurity team wanted a ‘next step’ curriculum that would examine the complex issues of poverty and diverse methods to address it.

In our search for a new curriculum, we came to the conclusion that we’d have to develop our own.

FRAMEWORK FOR PACE We wanted a curriculum that would:

address the complex issues of poverty (including social class, privilege, racism, power, oppression, and urban vs. rural)

address a continuum of learner levels (raising awareness through transformational education) and resources in the curriculum

be non-prescriptive in its approach.

PACE ROLL-OUT PACE:

Was developed by Cooperative Extension educators and specialists.

Was piloted with educators from around the state, evaluated and then revised.

Is peer reviewed

Available online at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/pace/

SECTIONS OF PACE Introduction

Teaching Essentials

Companion Activities

Faces of Poverty

Ongoing Groups

Measurable Change

Keeping up the PACE

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Educators can develop a workshop from

PACE’s curriculum that will meet the specific needs of their audiences. Learning objectives include:

Personal Reflection Awareness Empathy Knowledge & Critical Thinking Skill Building Network Building Action

DEFINING POVERTY How do you define poverty? Poverty is an individual, family or

community’s lack of goods and resources that are needed to support well-being and stability

PACE PREMISES Poverty is complex.

Poverty connects and intersects with other issues.

Poverty is a Call to Action.

PACE ONGOING GROUPS Book clubs

Just Neighbors Toolkit - http://www.justneighbors.net/program/just-neighbors

Community Change Circles - http://www.everyday-democracy.org

COMMUNITY CHANGE CIRCLES

Process for public dialogue and community change processOrganized by diverse people from

community

Includes people from all walks of life

Easy-to-use fair-minded discussion materials

Moves a community to action when discussion is concluded

COMMUNITY CHANGE CIRCLES A diverse group of 8 -12 people Meets for five 2 hr. sessions Sets its own ground rules Led by trained impartial facilitators Dialogue process:

Personal storiesLooks at a problem from many points of

viewExplores solutionsFormulates an action plan for change

PILOT CCC IN MKE Two action teams formed to implement

1 yr. action plan.One team developed an employment data

base that included: over 120 employers in the MKE County area and 26 programs/services for job-seekers.

Data base shared with 211 Community Resource Hotline

Data base shared with 4 Dept. of Workforce Development Job Centers in greater MKE area.

MILWAUKEE PROMISE Second action team wrote an issue brief

about a free/reduced college tuition program for graduates of Milwaukee Public Schools, based on the Kalamazoo Promise program in MI.

Group decided to continue its work to make the Promise dream a reality in Milwaukee.

MKE PROMISE, INC. CNRD agent, Edward McDonald, assisted

group with organizational planning

Milwaukee Promise, Inc. now has 501 C 3 status. Its mission is to “fund post-secondary education for graduates of Milwaukee Public Schools”.

Blog at http://mkepromise.wetpaint.com/

Media coverage in Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and online newspapers.

CCC IN WAUKESHA COUNTY The Waukesha County Hunger Coalition

is working on a grant to support CCC in the 3 neighborhoods identified by HUD as areas of need in the City of Waukesha.

Three low-income neighborhoods in Waukesha County will:work togetherbuild social capitol and make positive changes by addressing three

specific poverty issues identified through Community Change Circles.

QUESTIONS? If you have any questions regarding any

aspect of PACE, please free to ask them now.

The PACE website address is http://www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/pace/

The Milwaukee Promise blog is at http://mkepromise.wetpaint.com/

Thanks for your participation and interest in PACE!