By: Pastor Manisha Dostert
What if you could move the needle for a Pontiac family so they could go from surviving to thriving? Or how about six families?
How It Started – In 2022, I was on vacation and was doing what I usually do on vacation: relaxing, reading, eating (!), taking stock of my life and praying. The combo turned out to be interesting in that I had just been reading about an experiment the city of Stockton, CA started called SEED (Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration) where they gave 131 random families who were at poverty level $500 a month for 24 months. They were curious– could a small infusion like that change the standard of living and quality of life for a family?
What was key about this supplemental income was it was unrestricted. Families could spend it on anything they wanted. What they found is that this small gift let families manage unforeseen circumstances that could have sent them careening into an irreversible catastrophe.
Working families who are near poverty or living in poverty face financial instability when hit with unplanned expenses like higher utility fees, insurance payments, or unforeseen crises such as car accidents or illness. Without a financial cushion, families can quickly spiral into a terminal cycle of debt, leaving them unable to make payments to cover their basic needs like shelter and food. Once a family falls into poverty, their chances of exiting poverty drastically decrease for every year they are below the poverty level: for instance, 56% can exit from poverty in the first year, but if the poverty continues year after year, after seven more years, only 13% will recover.
By all accounts, the Stockton experiment was successful and began a nationwide conversation about offering municipal assistance to increase the minimum basic income of those who are financially insecure.
But, what if families did not use government funding? Could a non-government entity help a family and make a difference?
2022- A Year of Dreaming – Two things happened in 2022 that made me, while on vacation, and our Mission and Outreach Committee, when I brought it to them, think so.
First, we helped Afghan refugee families who fled from Afghanistan and the Taliban when the country fell on Aug 15, 2021. Hundreds of refugees ended up in Dearborn and Father Bill took our congregation there to assist them, and then, we assisted three families to settle, providing them with a home to rent, transportation, basic household needs and so much more. The congregation was energized by this gift to care for others– it was beautiful to behold the generosity that was mutual– often church folk were guests at the Afghan Americans’ dinner tables!
Second, Jennifer Umphress and Tiffany Morris-Street did some research about private funding assistance programs to help lift people out of poverty. Jennifer discovered Springboard to Opportunities, a nonprofit in Jackson, Mississippi that provided twenty single mothers a monthly stipend of $1,000 a month for twelve months. Private donors fully fund this program. The program was highly successful, so they expanded.
By Spring 2022, 300 mothers had been through the program and the dramatic shift in their lives was statistically measurable:
By providing direct, recurring, unrestricted cash disbursements to the families, Magnolia Mother’s Trust helped these mothers move from “reacting to driving their circumstances.” Mothers felt seen and supported since they were able to do things with the stipend they decided to do. Finally, the mothers felt empowered to provide for their children’s needs.
So, in 2022, on vacation, I began to think about the city of Pontiac. Christ Church Cranbrook had been centering our outreach efforts and community building on Pontiac since 2018. Could we do something like this in our own backyard?
Could We Do This, Too? – In Pontiac, Michigan, 28% of the population experiences poverty compared to 16% in all of Oakland County. Despite the fact that 60% of the population in Pontiac is employed (compared to 65% employment in Oakland County), the median income for a Pontiac resident is $36,000 compared to $86,000 in Oakland County as a whole. If the average rent is $1500 a month, money to cover all other routine and unexpected expenses becomes tight, and creating an emergency fund is almost impossible.
What would it look like to help a family out of the precarity of poverty? Could a monthly gift get a family on the way to stability of some sort? Could a Pontiac family benefit from the wonderful, generous love that our parishioners showed to the Afghan families, too?
When Baldwin Center, a non-profit in Pontiac we have worked with for decades, agreed with us and offered to find and support these families, and when two wonderful donors stepped forward to fund the initial program, we created the Thriving Families Program.
We are planning on launching the Thriving Families Program in November, 2024. Here is our audacious plan:
I want to let you know about this program because I am hoping you will find a way to support our six soon-to-be Thriving Families in Pontiac! You can pray for them, become a part of their support team, offer your time and talent to assist them, and also contribute to their needs as we learn more about these families who have already been chosen by God.
We will have a Sunday Forum on the Thriving Families Program on Sunday, September 22 at 11.30am in the Multipurpose Room (off the Atrium). We will record it and send it out if you cannot attend. Meanwhile, if you have questions, talk to any Mission and Outreach Committee member or clergy. Let’s see what needles can be moved in Pontiac!