When we called Angela Marini to ask about her Getting Ahead experience she was in the middle of using the skills she learned during the work group to look for new housing. The house where she’s renting a room is being sold at the end of the year. 

Angela has several chronic health issues including a brain tumor, seizures and neuropathy in her hands that mean she can’t work. She needs knee and elbow surgeries and lives with constant pain in her back from previously broken bones. 

Getting Ahead sessions – where she says she “felt peace” – gave her the encouragement and new skills to move back toward stability.   

“For the last 2.5 years I’ve just been trying to survive with all these medical issues,” she said. “Now, I’m doing the work and getting the resources. I want to get back to where I was and help other people. It’s been a journey but I don’t want to give up.”

Angela was one of 6 people to graduate from Getting Ahead in June. 

During the 18-session Getting Ahead program, participants discuss 11 resources that we each need to thrive: financial, emotional, mental/cognitive, language, social capital, physical, spiritual, integrity & trust, motivation & persistence, relationships/role models, and knowledge of hidden rules. 

Poverty isn’t just about money, but it is often the first thing people think of when talking about instability. 

Our Getting Ahead graduates have access to continuous growth through free success coaching and a $500 Emergency Savings Incentive Plan. 

Angela said that Getting Ahead helped her not only with finding local resources but learning how to share her experiences to help others. 

“When I first got there I thought ‘These are the people I need to be around.’ They uplift me, they encourage me,” she said. “I’ve already hit rock bottom, I’m not doing that again. Our facilitator Ruth (Wilson) said she sees me going far and I want to do it because she sees that in me.”

If you think you would benefit from Getting Ahead, apply online at Getting Ahead – Common Heart. Participants receive a $40 Wal-Mart gift card plus free dinner and free childcare (if needed) for every session they attend. Graduates have the opportunity to receive free success coaching and earn a $500 emergency savings deposit into a bank account through our Emergency Savings Incentive Plan (ESIP). Call Ruth Wilson at 704-870-0012 or email GA@CommonHeart.org with any questions. 

If you would like to help support the GA program with meal donations, call Grace Lotharp at 704-684-9007 or email EmpowermentOutreach@CommonHeart.org.