Dr. Donna M. Beegle

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Dr. Donna M. Beegle

• Interrupting Generational Poverty

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Key Terms

• Perception How our mind makes sense of our
  experiences
• Membership Our description of the world
• Identification Symbolic rebirth
• Motivation The why behind our behavior
• Empathy Understanding

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Defining Poverty

• Generational Poverty
• Family has never owned land
• Never knew anyone who benefited from education
• Never knew anyone who moved up or was respected
  in a job
• Highly mobile
• High family Illiteracy
• Focus is on making it through the day
• Working Class Poverty
• Working, but rarely have money for any extras
• Most do not own property
• Live paycheck to paycheck
• Few have health care
• Focus on making it two weeks or through the month
• Poverty seen as personal deficiency

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• Immigrant Poverty
• - Have little or no resources
• - Language culture barriers
• - Seem to do better than those born into poverty
  in America
• - Poverty viewed as a system problem
• Depression Era Poverty
• - A time when the societal message was, We are
  all in this together.
• - Poverty seen as society problem
• Middle Class Temporary/Situational Poverty
• - Person grows up in stable environment
• - Surrounded by people who are educated or able
  to earn a living wage
• - Attends school regularly
• - Has health care
• - Has crisis (health, Divorce, etc.) and ncome
  drops
• - Generally is able to make it back to middle
  class
• - Has not internalized the poverty as their own
  fault

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• Oral Culture
• Print Culture
• Mentors

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Oral Culture

• Relationships At the heart of everything. First
  priority.
• Spontaneous Desire for variety. Ability to go
  with the flow. Change subjects with ease.
• Repetition Storytelling and repeating stories
  are important for maintaining knowledge.
• Holistic Focus on the BIG picture. Tendency
  to take in everything going on around them.
• Emotional Comfort with emotions. Shows emotions
  readily in most any situation. Open to
  self-disclosing private details.
• Present Oriented Highly in-tune with the here
  and now.
• Agonistic More physical.
• Interrupting There are no periods in verbal
  communication.
• Self Disclosure Share intimate details for
  connections

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Print Culture

• Linear Organizes thoughts actions by first
  this, then this thought process.
• Time At the heart of everything. High priority
  on daily activities.
• Analytic/Abstract Knowledge is outside of self.
  Ability to step back from a situation, separate
  disconnect self from what is going on.
• Self-Disciplined/Focus Strong ability to shut
  out sensory data and focus on one idea at a time.
• Delay Gratification Strong understanding of
  relationships between parts.
• Strategize Ability to plan ahead, set goals,
  focus on future. Break things into parts, connect
  small efforts to reach end desires.

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Successful Mentors

• 1. Believe in the person they are working
  with
• 2. Believe there is a way out of
  poverty
• 3. Are bi-cultural
• Understand structural causes of poverty
• Are aware of the history of
  poverty in the U.S.
• Know poverty related facts about your
  community
• Are able to suspend judgment
• 4. Open your personal network to the people
  you are working with
• 5. Teach those you are working with how to
  build a network

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Family Photos Auctioned Off
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Four of Five Brothers - 1999
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Met at 12 - Married at 15
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Future WIC Baby Jennifer
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Danny - Born Healthy
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Daniel Today
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Jennifer goes to France - Twice
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My Family Today
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Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They
must be driven into practice with courageous
patience.-- Hyman Rickover