24.4 percent of children in Arizona live in extreme poverty. An additional 25 percent live in low-income families, families earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty line. This means that about half of the children in our state struggle to have their basic needs met.
Live and Learn is working to end this epidemic of poverty. The Phoenix-based nonprofit empowers women to achieve financial self-sufficiency, enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty and create a brighter future for their children. Since 2012, the organization has served adult women from the Phoenix-metro area whose lives have been affected by poverty, violence, and homelessness.
Based on research by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Live and Learn focuses on the five critical aspects needed to lift an individual out of poverty: education, career planning, social support, life-skills development, and financial literacy. With Live and Learn’s help, the women in the program are the first in their families to earn a high school diploma, the first to attain a secondary degree, and the first to pursue a professional career.
Live and Learn’s program is unlike any other in the Phoenix-metro area:
Holistic Approach
Live and Learn serves the whole-person. Other organizations in our community address one factor necessary to a woman’s success, such as housing, financial literacy, or job placement, but Live and Learn address the myriad factors necessary to a woman’s success.
Collaborative
Working with over 40 community partners, Live and Learn brings together our community’s diverse programs and resources to address the complex needs of at-risk women.
Long-term Support
Many organizations start a woman on the road to success, but Live and Learn supports them as they travel that road, helping them as they set goals, begin school, reach milestones, and encounter new obstacles.
It Takes a Village
Clients of other organizations may meet and form bonds, but Live and Learn recognizes that meaningful relationships are essential to a woman’s long-term success. Each woman that enters the program joins a strong community of women who support each other, encourage each other, and celebrate each other.
To learn more, and read some inspiring stories of local women, visit www.liveandlearnaz.org.
Foster Hope: Become a Mentor
Each of us faces pressures and risks in life—professionally and personally. However, many of the women Live and Learn serves face these issues alone. The organization is seeking community members to volunteer as one-on-one mentors to provide hope and support to a Live and Learn woman. A mentor helps a woman recognize her own strengths, models positive life choices, offers her encouragement throughout her journey, and assists her with developing skills along the way. Mentors come from all walks of life and all economic and educational backgrounds to create a lasting impact for women, their children, and our community. To learn more or attend a mentor training, please contact Kristin Chatsworth at [email protected].
