Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities Workbook - Softcover

Philip E. DeVol is a trainer, writer, consultant, and program designer specializing in community sustainability and poverty issues. In addition to co-authoring Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Processionals and Communities, he authored Getting Ahead in a Just-Getting By World: Building Your Resources for a Better Life, which is the foundation of a broader effort to engage individuals in solving community challenges through planning, teamwork, and a better understanding of resources. DeVol also works extensively with businesses, organizations, and communities to adapt innovative, high-impact Bridges strategies to their settings, as well as to build expertise, communication, and understanding among all parties. These efforts keep him in daily contact with people from all walks of life-and all political persuasions and beliefs-and build on nearly two decades of experience as director of an out-patient substance abuse treatment facility. Currently DeVol coordinates aha! Process, Inc. work with other organizations and agencies, working tirelessly to end poverty and build communities where everyone can do well. He lives in Ohio.

Bridges out of poverty brings new players and new energy to the table. It addresses poverty at the individual, community, and structural/policy levels-and calls for people in poverty to be planners and decision makers. --Bonnie Bazata Director, St. Joseph County Bridges Out of Poverty Initiative South Bend, IN

Before we integrated these principles, our turnover rate was 40-60% and cost us $3.6 million. Since then, our rate has been reduced to less than 5% and last year cost us under $500,000, proving that communitywide or regional change initiatives can significantly impact businesses bottom lines --Dave A. Barrett Director of Talent Management, Cascade Engineering, Inc. Grand Rapids, MI

I practice pediatrics in neighborhood clinics that primarily serve low-income families. But it took an aha moment at a bridges workshop to help me understand what my patients were up against. Now I am a much stronger advocate for change in our policies and procedures in delivering healthcare to those in poverty. --Jane Goldman, M.D. Associate Professor of Pediatrics The Ohio State University College of Medicine Nationwide Childrens Hospital Columbus, OH