Outreach and relationship-building with people whose lives are most impacted by the injustices of poverty as well as with powerful people who could be influenced by collaborating with them. 

ATD Fourth World’s first step is always to reach out and build relationships. We reach out to people whose lives are most impacted by the injustices of poverty and with them form an active community. From this community, we then reach out to people with power whose way of addressing poverty would benefit from collaborating with people with direct experience of poverty. To have the conditions necessary for this collaboration, we reach out, at every step, with patient perseverance, careful preparation and intentional reflective practices.

Find out more about phase one in our Story Garden program and by reading Being Present.