🌻📖 Story Garden Counters Work- and Employment- Related Hardships: Become a Story Gardener!
Become a Story Gardener.
Cultivate community.
Counter the multiple dimensions of poverty.
Through the end of the year, we will share stories through a series of posts about Story Garden countering each of the nine dimensions of poverty. Each story will be posted here in Latest News.
This is the fourth story: Story Garden counters Work- and Employment- Related Hardships.
Here is the introduction to the series.
Poverty goes much deeper than income level.
Story Garden goes much deeper than children’s activities.
Story Garden builds community to counter the multidimensional aspects of poverty.
Work- and Employment- Related Hardships:
“Work- and Employment- Related Hardships” is one of the nine dimensions of poverty in the report Pushed to the Bottom: The Experience of Poverty in the U.S. The report states:
For people living in poverty, work and employment experiences rarely have a positive impact on their life trajectories because of the extreme difficulty of building a career. Most of the time, because of low wages and unfair employment practices, work is not perceived as a way toward a better life situation and provides very little or no access to social and professional networks that open opportunities for advancement. (p18)
Story Garden counters Work- and Employment- Related Hardships by offering children role models to enrich their dreams and reveal possibilities.
The Navajo Teacher
When Sophia arrives at the Story Garden in Gamerco, she is unsure of what to expect. She volunteered to drive the ATD Fourth New Mexico team to the trailer park where Story Garden is held outside weekly. Then she decides to stay, meet the kids, and help facilitate. But both she and the regular facilitator wonder how the kids will react to a new adult.
Sophia is a Navajo teacher at an elementary school in Churchrock, a small town to the east, nestled in the mighty red rocks that define the topography. She knows what she’s doing when she meets the kids: She is great at encouraging them and helping them feel at ease with a newcomer in their space. One of the older girls, Patty, is getting to an age where the Story Garden isn’t as enticing as it was when she was younger, and much of the time she goes home early to do school work or play inside. But today, she stays. She brings out her volleyball and Sophia joins her in playing, breaking the ice and showing the other kids in the Story Garden that Sophia isn’t scary. Then Patty sits with the rest of the kids and works on the water color and puzzles like she used to.
Sophia tells the kids she’s a Navajo teacher in a public school and teaches the Navajo culture and language. They ask her questions and want to know more about her and her school. She tells them about her work and encourages them in their activities. One of the younger girls asks the team if she can make a card for Sophia because she enjoys having Sophia there so much.
A majority of the kids in the trailer park are Navajo girls. It is significant for them to see a Navajo woman who has an education and a stable job and who enjoys her work. Sophia is an instant role model for these girls. They could see themselves growing up to be like her. Story Garden always brings the world to the kids, but Sophia showed them who they could be in the world.
Through December 31st, stories of Story Garden
countering the dimensions of poverty
will be posted here in Latest News.
From 2016 to 2019 ATD Fourth World conducted participatory research that determined the various dimensions of poverty as identified by people who live in poverty every day.
This Multidimensional Aspects of Poverty (MAP) research project identified nine dimensions of poverty, two constants, and four aggravators:
Read more or download the whole report,
Pushed to the Bottom: The Experience of Poverty in the U.S..
Subjugation labels people living in poverty as "those people,” which Story Garden counters by supporting the uniqueness of each individual and exemplifying how diversity enhances society.
Disadvantaged Areas reflect the idea that people "do not deserve more,” which Story Garden counters by collectively creating beauty in "crappy spaces," very visibly for all who live there.
Resources at bare minimum are denied to people living in poverty, including education which is limited and highly standardized. Story Garden counters this by creating communal and inclusive learning environments.
Work- and Employment- Related Hardships minimize social capital, including the availability of professional networking, which Story Garden counters by offering children role models to enrich their dreams and reveal possibilities.
Stigma and Shame of poverty is internalized by institutions, which Story Garden counters by supporting the efforts of people experiencing poverty to fulfill their hopes and aspirations for their families and communities.
Lack of Adequate Health and Well-being result from the toxic interaction of all the dimensions of poverty. Story Garden counters this by meeting, listening to, and accompanying often-ignored people who need support to access services and resources.
Unrecognized Voice and Exclusion from Participation leads people to suffer in silence and believe they don’t matter, which Story Garden counters by creating a welcoming space for everyone to be seen and heard.
Social Isolation damages the human need for community which Story Garden counters by creating a welcoming and visible space without walls or doors, where people of all ages can comfortably connect.
The Struggle is the personal effort people experiencing poverty constantly make to adapt to systems that don’t adapt to them. Story Garden counters this by creating person-centered programming that follows the lead and the needs of individuals
Through December 31st, stories of Story Garden
countering the dimensions of poverty
will be posted here in Latest News.