How It Works

Community Collaboration

1.  Communities contact Circles USA to apply for an implementation contract.  www.CirclesUSA.org 888-232-9285

2.  Each Circles initiative is run by a community organization that builds a Guiding Coalition of private, public, and community service organizations.

3.  Communities can start a Circles initiative by raising $ 150,000 for the first year  (depends on the market)

4.  Circles initiatives are co-designed with existing community-based organizations, resulting in two key benefits:

• Community groups adapt Circles to fit their specific needs, culture, target populations, and most pressing issues.
• Community organizations use Circles to leverage their services for more effective outcomes.

5.  Each Circles group consists of 25 low-income families (Circle Leaders) who enroll in Circles Leadership Training Class to build financial, emotional, and social resources, as well as an Economic Stability Plan that sets goals unique to their own needs and dreams. These families, called Circle Leaders, are paired with trained middle- to high-income community volunteers, called Allies, who support their efforts to achieve economic stability. Each week, Circles groups meet to discuss strategies for attaining prosperity and to provide peer support. Monthly Big View meetings feature community discussions around systemic barriers to prosperity and strategies to remove them

6.  Each community’s Circle initiative has a Guiding Coalition comprised of five teams responsible for the development and implementation of the Circles approach, conducting weekly meetings, generating resources, linking families to education, training and jobs. The Guiding Coalition also holds a monthly Big View open house meeting for the community, designed to educate participants about the responsibility of local business and policymakers in ending poverty.

Adding Value to Communities

Circles can adapt to a community’s circumstances, culture and most pressing needs. With an emphasis on collaboration and leveraging resources, it can be integrated with existing social/community services to achieve stronger, more sustainable outcomes.

Until Its Gone: Ending Poverty in Our Nation, in Our Lifetime by Scott C. Miller, Founder of Circles®

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The poverty rate in the United States has not dropped significantly since 1965. And if we continue to expect government and social services to take care of poverty without the help of individuals, nothing is likely to change. That's why the Circles Campaign has captured the imaginations of people of conscience across the United States, including educators, social workers, community organizers, faith leaders, business leaders, and politicians.

The Circles Campaign is an action plan that brings together the best efforts and resources of individuals, organizations, communities, and government in a program proven to raise people out of poverty.

Until It's Gone shows you how to:

• Define, recognize, and approach the problem of poverty in America
• Get started in building Circles out of poverty in your community
• Expand social networks and connect with others outside your comfort zone
• Be a bolder ally to those in need
• Become a transformational leader wherever you are
• Eliminate the barriers confronted by those in poverty

Praise for Until It's Gone:

'To achieve community sustainability, we must address issues of economic justice, which can occur only when there are relationships of mutual respect among the classes. The process that Scott Miller identifies to allow those relationships to develop is pure genius.' --Ruby K. Payne, PhD, author of the bestselling A Framework for Understanding Poverty

'Scott Miller offers us practical hope that we can end--not just reduce--poverty through a change in the ways we think and respond.' --Vicki Robin, co-author of the bestselling Your Money or Your Life and co-founder of Conversation Cafés

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