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A program underway in Stone and Taney Counties is giving people a hand in giving back to their communities. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more…
Step Up to Leadership is offered once a year in Stone and Taney Counties. It’s a project conducted by OACAC and University Extension that helps low-income people learn skills to be able to give back to their communities…
"Whether that be serving on a local not-for-profit board or being a better volunteer or just basic ways to give back to their community."
Kandy Loehr is supervisor of the Taney County Neighborhood OACAC Center. She says participants must meet certain income guidelines. This is the 3rd year for the program in Stone and Taney Counties, and Loehr says interest in the program has been phenomenal…
"We have several people that want to be able to give back to their community--maybe they've come thru our doors for help--and they want to be able to give back, but they just don't know how, and this provides them the training to do so."
Step Up to Leadership is a 12-week class that meets once a week for 3 hours. During the class, participants first receive help figuring out their interests and their passions...
"From there we talk about how to cultivate that passion. We move into items such as mini grant writing so that perhaps they might be able to come up with a project to support a passion of theirs."
Other topics include public speaking and how to serve on a board. Loehr says communities have seen results from the project. For example, one participant received a mini grant for a beautification project. Another grant funded a neighborhood watch program and others paid for a support group for families recovering from addiction and a support group for people who live in weekly rentals…
"So that they can get out, first and foremost, to fellowship with each other, but then to talk about the struggles that they face in being in the situation of a weekly rental and resources that they could obtain being in that situation."
According to Loehr, even though low-income people can’t give money to help their communities, they have a lot of talents and experience to share…
"A person that has lived that situation, it brings a unique perspective to the table."
She says they also serve as role models for others who want to help out in their communities but aren’t sure how.Each Step Up to Leadership class has about 10 participants, and the program is offered for free once a year.Participants receive a stipend for each week they attend to cover transportation and childcare costs.Loehr says Christian, Greene and Lawrence Counties plan to implement the program soon. For KSMU News, I’m Michele Skalicky.
