Connecting with Kids
May 6, 2022 | By: Doug Cowan, CSL President & CEO
In our work at CSL, whether it be workforce development, financial coaching, basic needs assistance, housing, or other program offerings, we try to have a “2-Gen” approach to our work. “2-Gen” is an industry buzz term that’s short for Two-Generation, and in long form, we speak about a “Two-Generation Approach” to reducing poverty. What does all this mean?
People ask me a lot about what we do for kids at CSL. Kids directly receive food, school supplies, Christmas gifts, and other supports from CSL. But, to make a long-term difference in their lives, we must help build capacity for a brighter future. To do so requires that we look through a lens of how do we offer services to parents that also provide a great enhancement to kids?
Practitioners in our field often refer to poverty in two forms; situational or generational. Situational refers to a brief period of time, so think of a person between jobs that is struggling and needs assistance. Regarding generational poverty, these are often individuals or families stuck in patterns of long-term, recurring poverty.
Our Two-Generation Approach is really geared toward breaking cycles of generational poverty. How does this manifest into our work at CSL? Here’s a few ways:
In our Family Stability work at CSL (we have eight full-time Case Managers in this field), we promote stability among families with school-age children. Our program centers around keeping families stably housed, for years at a time, within their child’s elementary school. This is designed to build a wealth of relationships at the school level, and to understand the value of trust and connection. Too often, impoverished families move around, and kids, eventually, tune out to building trust with adults, and this is one reason why students disconnect from their learning and don’t finish high school.
In our Bridges to Career Opportunities work, your philanthropy dollars provide tuition to adults that help them get a certificated training in healthcare or construction trades. For most enrollees, this is the first education they have attained beyond high school. By modeling the behavior of achievement and attainment, they show their kids the possibilities that exist.
Our Community Development team, through outreach via CSL’s BlendWell Community Cafe and our office inside Hawthorne Place Apartments, offer dual-learning opportunities for parents and kids. We help parents and kids learn mental wellness tips that support loving and encouraging environments; with Mid-Continent Public Library, we host story time for parent and child reading; problem-solving strategies are taught that help families deal with crisis and uncertainty; and, our Financially Fit Families class teaches parents and children alike positive relationships with money.
Through our Amy Anthony College Savings Accounts, the Family Self-Sufficiency wealth- and asset-building program, and our homebuyer education classes, we are giving tools for families to save and invest for their future. Instead of being hard-wired to rent their way through life, we’re showing kids that ownership and asset-development is possible for people at all income levels.
CSL has a cohort of 19 named scholarships through KC Scholars. Donors stepped up, via CSL, to invest in scholarships for Eastern Jackson County high schools. Some of our students will be starting their senior years of college soon, and it’s great to see them blossom into critical thinkers and learners that are prepared to come back to our community and make a big difference.
What we aim to do is to include “2-Gen” approaches into nearly all of our work. It allows us to make investments that pay off well today for parents, but that investment really pays off well for society when kids are able to be their last family generation to live in poverty. I hope you’ll continue to support the good work happening at CSL, and remember that, in all we do, we are thinking about helping kids.
