aha! Process, Inc. Blog

In my last blog I examined the way some of the interviewees in this Philadelphia Inquirer article revealed a prevalent mental model of people in poverty in the United States. But the article also briefly mentions another issue that I think it is vital to discuss further.
The question raised by the article is whether the [...]

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Ahoj! (That’s Slovak for “Hello!”)
I will be traveling with Phil DeVol to Slovakia later this month to follow up on training requests resulting from Ruby Payne’s visit in May. Ruby’s initial visit to Slovakia was a great success. What we have found is that our strategies for community change and understanding the hidden rules of [...]

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A Bridges Community that adopts the Cincinnati Works model will be able attract new businesses to the community.
Not long ago I visited Cincinnati Works with Scott Miller, Karin Van Zant, and Jason Upthegrove to see how Cincinnati Works works. How do they place almost 700 people a year in jobs and get an 85% retention [...]

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I recently read Kay’s blog where she’s writing about being asked by her governor to chair a committee on education. In her blog Kay concludes that part of the problem with education is poverty. I’m happy to see she is digging deeper into the issue of poverty and is using A Framework for Understanding Poverty [...]

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Recently there has been a rush of communities asking how to go about building a Bridges community. We’ve heard from people in Kent, Ohio; Boulder, Colorado; Ludington, Michigan; and
Kings County, California (to name just four). At the same time as some established Bridges communities are deliberating about how to integrate Bridges with a Circles™ initiative, [...]

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It has been almost three years since the Gulf Coast was hit hard by the one-two punch of Katrina and Rita, and still 80,000 displaced people need homes. aha! Process is now going to work with investors and builders to build homes and communities using Bridges strategies. The Bridges into Prosperity: a Hurricane Katrina Disaster [...]

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aha! Process participated in the NAESP (National Association of Elementary School Principals) annual convention in Nashville. What a great place for elementary educators to come together and collaborate on solutions for kids!
We had educators come by our booth and say some of the following things:

“Framework has influenced my career in the classroom.”

“We’ve done Ruby [...]

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We prefer people who are passionate—even if we don’t always agree on everything. This is what we can agree on when it comes to poverty:

We know that children from poverty can learn.
We know we can make a difference in the lives of individuals from poverty.

To learn, these kids need and deserve a great education, relationships [...]

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Being a blog contributor for aha! Process has heightened my curiosity in searching out other blogs that pertain to children who are dealing with the everyday issues of poverty in America. Recently, I came across a blog game (called a meme) on the “History is Elementary” blog titled, “Are YOU Privileged?”. The game is based [...]

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So, here is a game plan: Let’s help 1,000 families out of poverty and show the nation what that takes and what makes it so difficult. Then let’s spread the idea of Circles into 1,000 communities for the purpose of giving people something they can do about the condition of poverty. With a large, assertive [...]

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