About Circles® Canada
Lambton County is the national recruiting and training site for Circles® Canada. Circles® Canada currently has initiatives in Sarnia-Lambton, London, Wellington County, St. Thomas, Muskoka, Simcoe County, Kingston, Oxford County, City of Cornwall, and Temiskaming and is growing rapidly!
Circles® Canada is a poverty alleviation strategy working to build relationships across socio-economic classes to empower people and communities to thrive! Our model focuses on these strategies for people experiencing poverty: crisis management and life stabilization; education, job placement and job retention; advancement and economic stability leading to full self-sufficiency.
We do this by having local chapters facilitate groups of up to 20 low-income participants, typically in receipt of Ontario Works or the working poor, who are known as Circle Leaders.
They are required to:
- Enroll in Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin-By World or the Circles® Leadership Training Class to build financial, emotional and social resources as well as a plan of change for economic stability
- Partner with trained middle-to high-income community volunteers, called Allies, who support a Circle Leader’s efforts through networking, listening and guidance
- Attend weekly community meetings with peers, Allies and other interested community members for planning, support and networking opportunities
- Attend monthly Big View meetings, which include community discussions around systemic barriers to escaping poverty and the strategies needed to remove them.
On-boarding for New Sites:
Reporting to the Circles® Canada National Recruiter, the site will:
- Identify a lead agency
- Hire a Circles® Coordinator
- Form community partnerships to support Circles®
- E.g. for meeting locations, meal donations, employment opportunities for Leaders
- Deliver Getting Ahead and Bridges Out of Poverty Workshops prior to starting Circles®
- Alternatively, deliver Circles® Leader and Circles® Ally training
- Establish a three year funding plan for Circles®
- Establish a Guiding Coalition or community resource teams
- Sign agreement with Circles® Canada
- Send Coordinator and Coaches for Circles® ‘Hands On Training’ in Sarnia-Lambton
Launch Your Initiative!
Circles® is a collaborative committed to the elimination of poverty in our community in our lifetime by harnessing the power of a caring community working together!
Everyone needs enough relationships, resources and reason to thrive!
Contact us today to begin your journey towards becoming a Circles® Canada community.
| Kim Godin – National Circles® Coordinator
[email protected] |
