Circles is a group of people from different income levels brought together to build supportive, meaningful relationships.
Circles groups are made up of three types of participants, Leaders, Allies and coaches and an advisory committee:
Leader
A person or family working to get out of poverty. Leaders are program members who provide crucial, lived-experience feedback about the barriers that keep people stuck in poverty, while building their own resources and moving towards the goal of steady, reliable employment and self-sufficiency.
Ally
A middle or upper-income person willing to create a real, supportive and meaningful friendship built on mutual respect with a leader (and their family). An ally will work with a Leader to help them build a personalized action plan.
Circles coach
A Circles coach supports Leaders and Allies in fine tuning personalized action plans. The Circles coach is a paid position that has special training to support and manage the Circles program.
Circles Advisory Committee
The Circles Advisory Committee provides the inspiration, support, planning and leadership necessary for Circles to be successful. It is a potent force for changing the mindset of our community and addressing issues that require systemic change.
Each member is committed to attending weekly dinners frequently enough to become "known" to the Leaders and Allies. These relationships are the very foundation of the model, providing community members from all classes with direct access to one another.
The Circles Advisory Committee is responsible for modifying the Circles model to best fit the unique needs and resources of our Oxford County community.
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