The Upstream Impact Model

Families Taking The Lead

Upstream Impact model focuses on building community relationships across class, race, and cultural lines to eliminate poverty. It taps low-income families to act as Team Leaders and shape their own path to self-sufficiency. Team Leaders build close relationships with their Allies, who provide a key resource. They give the Team Leader a stable support system to help them succeed. Together each Team takes a journey to examine and overcome the barriers that keep people in poverty. It’s an amazing experience that ultimately transforms both Leader and Ally and inspires a transformation within the community as well.

Setting Goals and Providing Guidance

Team Leaders set a series of goals in terms of budgeting, educational training, building social capital and other critical life areas. They are then matched with middle/upper class volunteers from within the local community, called Allies. Team Leaders and Allies meet regularly in small groups. Here they review goals and progress, and problem-solve barriers the Team Leader faces in getting out of poverty. The Allies become a key piece of the journey. They become the support system for the Team Leader in a time of need.

Understanding the Bigger Picture

The Allies and Team Leaders face a tough challenge. They need to build a relationship that crosses class lines. As part of the Team Leader Training and the Ally Training curriculums, participants gain a better understanding of the “hidden rules” or “social norms” associated with class in the U.S. This helps them build a long-term vision for the Team Leader’s future as well as from ways to influence the attitudes of the community when it comes to class, race and education.