- MOVING FAMILIES FORWARDMoving people out of poverty and into living wage employment.
Changing the Economic Mobility Landscape
The poverty rate in Dallas is the third highest in the country and is considered one of the top challenges the city currently faces. Community Council believes access to education and employment opportunities for people with disadvantaged backgrounds is a major component to the solution.
Reducing Barriers for Vulnerable Populations
The journey to gainful employment for disadvantaged individuals isn’t easy. And, it’s crowded by barriers that make success almost impossible. Community Council is removing these barriers through the Opportunity Workforce program.
Community Services Block Grant (CSBG)
The Community Council is a recipient of a Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) which provides funds to help alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty in communities.
Funding supports projects that:
- Lessen poverty in communities
- Address the needs of low-income individuals
- Provide services and activities addressing employment, education, better use of available income, housing, nutrition, emergency services and/or health.
Three Major Poverty Alleviation Goals:
- Individuals & Families are stable and achieve economic security
- People live healthy lives with economic opportunity to increase self-sufficiency
- People are engaged and active in building opportunities in community – ownership and pride in their communities
OUR INITIATIVES
Learn more about our poverty alleviation initiatives below.
Connecting Community Organizations
Community Council teamed up with UTD’s Institute for Urban Policy Research, the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), and the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation to develop a community facing data platform that helps organizations access local the data and tools they need to fight poverty in our community.
From Poverty to Self-Sufficiency
Skill Quest is a program based at Community Council, under a two-year incubation agreement. As part of Community Council’s incubation program, Skill Quest is receiving office space, financial support and management oversight. Skill Quest is one of the transition out of poverty sub-grantees. Skill Quest provides middle skill training assistance for students attending Dallas Community Colleges or Collin College.
TOP
Transitioning Individuals Out of Poverty (TOP)
Economic Mobility offers assistance to unemployed individuals who are living below the poverty of 125% household income. This includes at-risk youth, public housing residents, individuals with disabilities, the formerly incarcerated, young adults, single moms and the elderly. Local nonprofit organizations working with Community Council to ensure individuals and families with low incomes are stable and achieve security include:
- T.O.R.I
- Wings
- Wilkinson Center
- Jubilee Park Community Center
- Achieve
- Anthem Strong Families/Serve West Dallas
- Bryan's House
- Dallas Leadership Foundation
- Oak Cliff Works
- Education Opens Doors
- Mayor Task Force on Poverty
- Child Care Group
Connecting Employers & Job Seekers through Technology
OpportunityOne is an innovative workforce solution designed to connect employers to qualified job seekers and close the skill gaps for in-demand jobs. The innovative, virtual platform of OpportunityOne provides job seekers with the tools and support they need to move from welfare to work and includes custom assessments, guided learning paths and a full learning library of resources.
OpportunityOne allows job seekers to browse open positions and helps connect them to employers through the virtual career fair platform.
Creating Workforce Opportunities
Responding to a request from the City of Dallas and a number of social services organizations in the Southern Sector, the Dallas Area Workforce Collaborative was formed, with Community Council serving as a backbone organization. Collaborative members include:
- CEO Works
- City of Dallas
- City Square
- Commit
- Harmony CDC/Concord Church
- DCCCD
- Friendship West Baptist Church
- Inspiring Tomorrow's Leaders
- Oak Cliff Chamber
- Per Scholas
- Skill Quest
- TORI
- Workforce Solutions
- Year Up
- Advance Net Labs
- Generation USA
