Carbon County is currently ranked number two in the state of Utah for intergenerational poverty. The Circles Program is an initiative to help assist people in getting out of intergenerational poverty. Julie Rosier has taken the helm of this initiative, working alongside Renee Raso, Katie Marquez, Asia Williams and others to assist the community and end the cycle of poverty.
This program is funded through a grant and it is a requirement that those that want help from Circles have a child. Families that are involved in the program meet at Lighthouse High School on Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. where they are provided dinner, classes and childcare programming.
Those in attendance at the Wednesday evening classes work on things such as smart goals, the CLIFF affect, budgeting and more. In Circles, instead of being told what one must do, the leaders and allies work to help participants with what they want to focus on. Things such as building credit and going back to school are discussed and modeled. There are currently 13 Circles Leaders and four families involved as well as a handful of single parents.
The childcare programming consists of teaching the children about bullying, building relationships, communication, emotional health, goal setting and, on an age appropriate level, a little about what mom and dad are doing in their classes.
The classes are about 12 weeks long. Afterward, families and individuals will be paired with allies. Allies are people that are in the middle class and are self-sufficient. They support Circles leaders by teaching lessons and skills to the families they are paired with. Match nights are hosted to see which ally would work best with which family or individual. The goal is to have two allies per individual. The allies are also asked to attend at least two of the weekly meetings each month.
There is currently a major need for allies and the program is asking for volunteers. Upon contact, an appointment will be made to visit the office and fill out an application. Those that wish to be allied must be finger-printed and background checked, a service the program pays for.
Other areas where the program could use help are the meal service, community team and childcare. There was a grant that assisted in the purchasing of the meals. However, that has ran out. Food businesses such as Taco Time, Wingers and Pizza Hut have already donated and the program is searching for more assistance.
According to program organizers, it will take the whole community pitching in to make Circles successful. Circles would like to thank Carbon School District as well Karen Bedont and Tawni Crowe at the Lighthouse High School for allowing the the program to use the building on Wednesday evenings.
If you are interested in becoming an ally, donating your time or providing any of the other assistance needed at Circles, you can contact Raso at (435) 613-0067 or Rosier at (435) 613-0065.
