Inspiring & Equipping Communities To End Poverty The mission of Move the Mountain Leadership Center (MTM) is to inspire and equip communities to end poverty. Move the Mountain Leadership Center provides transformational leadership and planning programs to align leaders and their organizations to high impact strategies that can reduce and eventually end poverty. The Circles Campaign™ was initiated by Move the Mountain to provide transformational leaders a structure to engage the community in ending poverty. Join us on Facebook
 

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Expert says ‘war on poverty’ can be won with small skirmishes

April 29, 2008

Summary: If there’s to be a real, lasting solution to chronic poverty in the United States, the key is organized individual efforts, says Scott Miller, chief executive officer of Move the Mountain Leadership Center in Ames, Iowa.

Expert says ‘war on poverty’ can be won with small skirmishes

AMES, IOWA
April 29, 2008 12:01am

If there’s to be a real, lasting solution to chronic poverty in the United States, the key is organized individual efforts, says Scott Miller, chief executive officer of Move the Mountain Leadership Center in Ames, Iowa.

“It’s time to rock the boat,” says Mr. Miller. “Poverty can be dismantled, but it’s going to take a radical change in the mindset within our individual communities.”

Mr. Miller’s group offers a solution called the “Circles Campaign,” which creates partnerships among individual volunteers and families trying to get out of poverty.

(Mr. Miller talks about this new approach in a CVBT Audio Interview. Please click on the link below to listen or to download the MP3 audio file to your computer, iPod or iPod-like device. The audio runs 22:11.)

Mr. Miller developed the approach in order to systematically support communities in addressing poverty. By partnering impoverished families with those how have middle and upper income means, the community learns from both sides of the “tracks” what will work to reduce and eventually eliminate poverty.

In his new book “Until It’s Gone: Ending Poverty in Our Nation, in Our Lifetime,” Mr. Miller argues that social compartmentalization leads to a popular denial that there is little to no poverty in a community, and, if there is, then those people are getting what they deserve.

“It’s going to be hard work,” he says. “However, if we are committed, if we have regular discussions about how to proceed and if we follow through by acting on good ideas, we can eventually end poverty one family at a time.”

Reposted with permission from Central Valley Business Times.