Last Friday Jennae Gee and I attended a one-day seminar “Bridges Out of Poverty” at the Century Center.  It was an excellent seminar that for me was full of “Oh…that explains…” moments.  Phillip E. DeVol was the presenter and did a fantastic job.  I especially found helpful his presentation of the hidden mental models of reality that are at work among different social classes.   He broke them down into the classes of poverty, middle-class, and wealthy.  It was amazing the differences of worldview, perspective, and life experience that exists between the three.

Poverty is complicated.  Factors from 1) behaviors of an individual,2) human and social capital in the community, 3) exploitation, and 4) political/economic structures are all involved to produce a complex and systemic problem of poverty.

I would highly recommend this seminar to EVERYONE!!  Ruby Payne is another author in whose research and books I would recommend.

One quick thought that popped into my mind in regards to the South Side of South Bend was the presentation of what businesses look like in impoverished areas vs. middle class areas.  It wasn’t hard to see both on the South Side of South Bend.

Middle-Class areas have (predominantly) the following types of businesses:

• shopping/strip malls
• bookstores
• banks
• fitness centers
• veterinarian clinics
• office complexes
• coffee shops
• restaurants/bars
• golf courses

Areas of poverty have (predominantly) the following types of businesses:

• Pawn stores
• liquor stores
• corner stores
• rent-to-own stores
• laundromats
• fast food
• check-n-cash
• temporary services
• used car lots
• dollar stores

In regards to the South Side, I wonder if you couldn’t draw a line at Ireland Rd. and compare the number of these different businesses south of Ireland Rd. and north of Ireland Rd.