Our Program
Getting Ahead is our 12-16 week financial literacy and life-skills course that provides education for understanding and breaking the cycle of generational poverty, from its financial, psychological, and social causes to its ramifications.
The workshop is based on Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World and the Bridges Out of Poverty framework. This course taught by financial literacy and banking professionals, equips participants to overcome financial challenges and encourages them to work to build a better future for themselves.
​Participants attend group sessions over 12-16 weeks, exploring the realities of poverty, local community barriers, and the “hidden rules” of economic class. They complete a personal “future story,” build budgets, identify local resources, and set practical goals around employment, education, housing, and family stability.
​
We began offering Getting Ahead in Georgetown in 2018; at least 35 individuals completed the program there in its early years, and the model has since spread. Getting Ahead has a 97% success rate. Graduates moved from unsafe, unstable housing into safe, subsidized apartments after learning how to navigate housing systems and expunge records.
Some graduates have launched small businesses (such as a lawn-care company) using the financial planning, resource-building, and confidence gained in the workshop to move from generational poverty toward self-sufficiency.​
Two of our graduates have gone on to facilitate Getting Ahead Classes for future students.
