Getting ahead in a just gettin by world
Getting Ahead
Program Overview
Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World is a 45-hour workshop that helps individuals in poverty build their resources for a more prosperous life for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Getting Ahead provides people in poverty with the same information found in Bridges Out of Poverty, which was developed for professionals and others in the community working to end poverty. Please stay tuned for more details on how to schedule a training or how to become a mentor for individuals graduating from the Getting Ahead program.
The Getting Ahead Curriculum:
Involves rigorous work done in a safe learning environment with the support of an experienced facilitator and co-facilitator.
Enables participants, called “investigators,” to examine their own experience of poverty as well as explore issues in the community that impact poverty − banking, housing, jobs, transportation − providing critical information the community can use to take action to end poverty.
Guides investigators through an assessment of their own resources and how to build those resources as part of their move to self-sufficiency.
Puts the concepts, tools, and relati
Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’ By World
Living in poverty is no easy trick. One must be masterful at juggling multiple challenges with limited resources. Juggling requires careful concentration; it requires living in the moment, vanishing little room to think about or plan for the future. When we live in poverty, getting by takes every ounce of energy.
“Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World,” an innovative workshop series, built from the “Bridges out of Poverty” framework, can help by providing those living in poverty with a sound environment in which to step outside of the problems of everyday life … and gaze to the future. Over the course of 16 weeks, groups of 12 to 14 participants—referred to as investigators—come together, along with one to two facilitators, to investigate poverty in their own lives and in their communities. Getting Ahead provides the tools to encourage investigators to write their own future story, and come to grips with the environmental, circumstantial, and psychological challenges they face, along with the resources they have – or lack.
Pictured: Getting Ahead graduates and supporters (May 2019).
Based on a national model, Getting A
Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’-By-World
Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World workshops are kitchen-table style learning experiences that offer participants, called Investigators, a new set of tools and perspectives for viewing their lives and building their future stories.
Guided by certified facilitators, Investigators share with and learn from each other as they explore their world through the lens of socio-economic class.
Workshops are held once per week for 13 weeks. Meals or snacks are provided, and Investigators have the opportunity to receive up to $350 by completing the class and 6-month assessments. ($250 for the workshop and $100 for the 6-month assessments.)
Workshops launch in January and July. Registration for the January workshops opens in mid-December. Registration for the July workshops opens in mid-May.
Participate in Getting Ahead
Upcoming Classes
Registration for the July workshops has ended. Our winter workshops will start registrations on December 8, 2025, with workshops beginning in late January 2026.
Are there any requirements for Investigators? What is expected of me?
We ask that Investigators:
Commit t
Thank you for your interest in Getting Ahead in A Just-Gettin'-By World!
If you’ve spent part of your life—or most of your life—struggling to get by in the world, the idea of actually getting ahead might seem out of reach. But even if your story has been filled with barriers, vanishing opportunities, and setbacks, the next chapter can change all that. Yes, you have to write it, but you don’t have to do it alone.
In a facilitated group setting, Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World takes you step by step through a discovery of yourself like no other. It’s not just about how you got where you are now. It’s also about what comes next to build the life you want. Plus, this workbook helps you develop relationships with people who will support you all along the way.
You will investigate:
– The realities of conditions in your community and how they impact you
– Some of the “hidden rules” for getting ahead
– Skills that give you confidence to do what it takes to get ahead
– How to build resources and make connections at home and at work
– Ways to deal with change and create stability in your life
Please complete the information below and we will be in contact with you!
Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin' by World
Empower Yourself with "Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin' by World"
"Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin' by World" is your key to taking control in challenging circumstances. This transformative program equips individuals facing poverty with the knowledge, tools, and connections to make a real difference in their lives and communities.
About the Program
Our comprehensive curriculum engages participants, known as "investigators," in rigorous exploration within a safe and supportive learning environment. Facilitated by experienced guides, this program encourages investigators to delve deep into their own experiences of poverty and explore the community's poverty-related issues, from banking and housing to job opportunities and transportation.
Through this exploration, investigators gather crucial information that the community can utilize to take meaningful action against poverty. Additionally, investigators conduct a thorough community assessment, examining various aspects of their environment.
Our skilled program facilitators not only assist investigators in understanding their own resources but also guide them in building