Hello! My name is Grace Chang, and I'm working for the Durham Economic Resource Center (DERC) this summer. DERC is a nonprofit aimed at helping end poverty in Durham through job and life skills classes that eliminate barriers to employment for our clients. Our first day, we toured the distribution center, met staff, and established key goals for our project over the next 6 weeks. Our project is to develop recommendations about identifying new board members and create a standard practice for orienting new board members. As part of this project, we are working on contacting members of the board to determine current needs and goals for new board members, as well as contacting community partners and new organizations to find candidates who would be interested in becoming a board member.
So far, I've been surprised by the amount of work we've been entrusted. I love a good challenge, so I think it's fun that we've been treated and assigned like real nonprofit consultants. We have gotten to some extent, identify what we think are projects to be worked on (like updating the website and social media presence), and it's been amazing to see the impact that DERC has.
As we prepare to present to the board next week, as well as attend the alumni dinner and Durham CAN meeting next week, I look forward to hearing more of the stories of the people DERC has directly helped, and hopefully these stories can help inspire members of the community to help DERC in its mission just as much as they inspire me.
The Anti-Poverty Experience
So, in my normal morning reading of the news, I came across this article in the Wall St Journal [Click here to read the article] about the potential of "experimental programs focusing not on large-scale social support and development but on helping the poor and indebted to save more, live better, and scramble up in their own way." It made me consider how DERC's mission and strategy fits in with this concept of ending poverty not through large infrastructure or welfare programs, but by helping people be more financially literate and self-sufficient. Here at DERC, I think what we teach in our Workforce Development class matches some of these needs and goals: helping clients with budgeting and money management, and helping them find gainful employment are key steps in the road to self-sufficiency and lifting oneself out of poverty. Additionally, DERC uses the concept of rewarding low-income individuals for doing what's good for them, for example, providing a stipend for completing each week of the Workforce Development class, or providing vouchers that can be used on items in the warehouse for every paystub alumni submit. With how much government programs and assistance are emphasized, it is interesting to consider their true effectiveness and alternative privately run programs such as the ones implemented by DERC and listed in the article.
So far, I've been surprised by the amount of work we've been entrusted. I love a good challenge, so I think it's fun that we've been treated and assigned like real nonprofit consultants. We have gotten to some extent, identify what we think are projects to be worked on (like updating the website and social media presence), and it's been amazing to see the impact that DERC has.
As we prepare to present to the board next week, as well as attend the alumni dinner and Durham CAN meeting next week, I look forward to hearing more of the stories of the people DERC has directly helped, and hopefully these stories can help inspire members of the community to help DERC in its mission just as much as they inspire me.
The Anti-Poverty Experience
So, in my normal morning reading of the news, I came across this article in the Wall St Journal [Click here to read the article] about the potential of "experimental programs focusing not on large-scale social support and development but on helping the poor and indebted to save more, live better, and scramble up in their own way." It made me consider how DERC's mission and strategy fits in with this concept of ending poverty not through large infrastructure or welfare programs, but by helping people be more financially literate and self-sufficient. Here at DERC, I think what we teach in our Workforce Development class matches some of these needs and goals: helping clients with budgeting and money management, and helping them find gainful employment are key steps in the road to self-sufficiency and lifting oneself out of poverty. Additionally, DERC uses the concept of rewarding low-income individuals for doing what's good for them, for example, providing a stipend for completing each week of the Workforce Development class, or providing vouchers that can be used on items in the warehouse for every paystub alumni submit. With how much government programs and assistance are emphasized, it is interesting to consider their true effectiveness and alternative privately run programs such as the ones implemented by DERC and listed in the article.