SLO Communities Bridging Poverty

SLO Communities Bridging Poverty to Host Information Sessions

SAN LUIS OBISPO – SLO Communities Bridging Poverty is a group of individuals and non-profit agencies in San Luis Obispo county that have come together to provide a bridge from poverty to possibility for those currently living in poverty in San Luis Obispo county. The inspiration for our movement was a presentation titled “Poverty 101” in San Luis Obispo last February by Donna Beegle, Ph. D. At her presentation, Beegle was living proof that the cycle of poverty can be broken, and the group that resulted from her presentation is determined to break the cycle of poverty in San Luis Obispo county.

Beegle is the only member of her family who hasn’t been incarcerated. She comes from generational poverty, the daughter of migrant farm workers. At 25, she was a single mother of two children with no high school degree, no job, and no skills.

Yet by the time she was 35 years old, the woman who everyone thought would become just another statistic, found a way out. Within those ten years she received her GED, an associates of arts degree at a community college, a beachelors degree, a masters degree, and a doctorate in education. The members of SLO Communities Bridging Poverty believe that others can also achieve great things, given the opportunity and some help “navigating” the system.

Beegle’s success began when she visited a program in Portland, OR called Women in Transition. Rather than give Beegle a hand-out, the program offered her the information and opportunity that provided her with a sense of self-worth, and the belief that she, Donna, was not the cause of her poverty. She says that her “aha” moment came when she was recognized as having worth.

SLO Communities Bridging Poverty is holding their first Opportunity Conference in San Luis Obispo County on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at Cuesta College. Donna Beegle will be the keynote speaker at the conference. Local individuals and agencies are working together to provide many “aha” moments at the conference, and we need the support of other individuals and agencies throughout the county to help provide those moments.

Opportunity Conference 2011– The Bridge from Poverty to Possibility – needs your help. We want to encourage anyone in the community who feels that they can help provide “aha” moments through sponsorship of the conference, or by helping as a Navigator for a conference participant. Information about being a Navigator will be available at the conference, or you may call Jan Knutson at 805-781-1872 for more information. Please plan to attend one of the following information sessions to learn more about this compelling opportunity to help someone in our county break the cycle of poverty.

Information Sessions: (all sessions will be held from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm)
South County: Tuesday, August 31, Grover Beach Community Center,1230 Trouville Ave, Grover Beach
San Luis Obispo: Wednesday, Sept. 22, SLO City/County Library, 995 Palm St., SLO
North County: Tuesday, Oct. 5., Plymouth Congregational Church, 1301 Oak St., Paso Robles

For more information about SLO Communities Bridging Poverty, or Opportunity Conference 2011, please go to www.slocounty.ca.gov/poverty.htm or www.slopoverty.wordpress.com or call Jan Knutson at 805.781.1872.