A new survey from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that nearly 35,000 people, or more than 9.5 percent of the people living in the Appleton/Oshkosh area, had income below the federal poverty level in 2006.  This is a greater than 50 percent increase since 2004, when the Census Bureau reported that 6 percent of area residents lived in poverty.

While layoffs and plant closings contribute to the problem, most studies suggest that there are more fundamental reasons for the growing poverty rate.  Most experts agree that a lack of problem solving and life skills keep many people from breaking the cycle of poverty.

In response, on September 7, 2007 the ThedaCare-led Community Health Action Team (CHAT) and United Way Fox Cities' Strengthening Families Impact Area, together with CAP Services, Inc., launched the area's first Family Mentoring Program.

Called Project TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More), the program matchs low-income families with mentors to assist them in establishing goals and achieving self-sufficiency in specific skill sets, customized to each family's circumstances. 

For more than two years, United Way's Strengthening Families Impact Area studied the issues affecting families in the Fox Cities.  The volunteers learned that many families living in poverty lack the necessary life skills to affect changes in their circumstances.  There was general consensus from the community experts the Impact Area spoke with that the best way to address life skills is through a family mentoring program.  Some of the research has shown that adult or family mentoring programs have been successful when the mentoring relationship lasts more than a year.  As no such program existed in our community, the Impact Area wanted to support the development of a family mentoring program in the Fox Cities.

While the Impact Area was completing its study, CHAT sponsored a "community plunge" into the issue of poverty, where area leaders spent a day engaging in first-hand learning of the issues confronting the area's poor.  Follow-up debriefings and other events were held to investigate possible solutions.

CHAT discovered that many people who spend their lives in poverty never developed the skills to be economically or emotionally self-sufficient.  In a culture of poverty, there are few role models and little opportunity to develop the skills those not living in poverty take for granted: the ability to set and achieve personal goals, manage the demands of school, find and maintain employment or raise children.  It was suggested that the community needed a family mentoring program to help families learn and develop these skills over time.

With both organizations reaching the same conclusion, CHAT and United Way Fox Cities convened a community steering committee to develop a model for a family mentoring program.  Participants included Lutheran Social Services, CAP Services, the Emergency Shelter, ThedaCare, Best Friends of Neenah-Menasha, Friendship Place, Outagamie County, Family Services, area school districts, churches, business leaders and United Way Fox Cities.  Following a formal request for proposal process, CAP Services was chosen to develop and administer the program. 

Current plans call for at least 20 families to be served in the first year of operation.  To be eligible, families must reside in the Fox Cities area, have dependent children under the age of 18, and have a family income that falls below the highest median poverty level in the three-county area.  Parents must not be actively dependent on drugs or alcohol or involved in criminal activity.  

Volunteer mentors must undergo a background check and make a one-year commitment to the program, including a significant amount of personal time spent with their assigned family each month.

CAP Services, Inc., administers the program under a three-year, $200,000 grant from CHAT and United Way Fox Cities.  Each organization is contribute a total of $100,000.

Families and volunteer mentors who are interested in the program may contact CAP Services at 920-968-6208.