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The Fishers Project

Our names are Conor Naughton and Jimmy Lipko. We are both Freshman Students at Fairfield University. in Fairfield, CT.  We believe that you make a life by what you give and not by what you get. In the few months that we have been in coastal Fairfield County, we have witnessed a stark dichotomy between the haves and have nots. The solution currently in place is to provide shelter and food via homeless shelters and food pantries. This solution has had limited results. We see that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. We have thus commenced a project called Fishers. View the description below. 

In order to make Fishers become a reality, we need your help! We need funding to buy supplies and also to submit a 501 c 3 or fiscal sponsor application.

If you are interested in helping but would rather make a contribution in materials, please contact us at [email redacted]

Please include your name while donating so we can thank you by putting your name on our donation wall!

FISHERS

Mission Statement: Fishers is a project dedicated to improving the lives of the homeless and marginalized by teaching them valuable lessons in basic economics and finance. They are taught the financial skills and tips necessary to begin the job search as well as facts about the professional and practical world to build substantial economic acumen. Our goal is that, given the opportunity to become financially literate through Fishers, these struggling people will learn the tools for success and break the cyclic nature of poverty.

Description
Fishers is a project that focuses on financial education of people who are at or around the poverty line. As humans, we become comfortable with any given situation as time and conditions demand. We understand that people do not wish to be homeless, yet they are also not aware of the opportunities that might lie in front of them. Fishers believes that poverty is cyclic and the way out of it or the prevention of it is education, from the Latin words ex and ducere meaning “to lead out of”. Our belief is that many people who are currently impoverished are ill-educated or have not been educated in years. Fishers also believes that education is bifurcated into lessons in the classroom and lessons in life. We believe that the education that is least accessible and knowledgeable to this demographic is practical financial literacy. This includes but is not limited to:

·         How to write a check

·         How to apply for a job

·         How to receive a credit card

·         What to do with a paycheck

·         How to purchase a house/ apartment

A person who is homeless for years will not know how to begin the house searching process when given money. A person who is unemployed for years will not know where to put a paycheck when given a job. A female who has never had a child will never know how expensive diapers are when mothering a baby. This list goes on ad nauseam. Fishers has a solution.
 

Solution:

Fishers believes in the slow but steady education of these individuals in a practical and affordable approach. The words practical and affordable guide our solution. Lessons in life come from people not book and thus volunteers are seen at the same level as the words affordable and practical as well.

The first step in our education is a diagnostic test. A test or survey designed to see how we might best help these people. We at Fishers believe in the utmost worth and dignity of every human person and thus recognize the individuality every person brings to Fishers. This diagnostic test would do two things. The first thing it would tell our staff is what we need to help this person with. In other words, where are they the most financially illiterate?  We keep this first assessment on file for programing and for comparative purposes. The second piece of information this test gives to our staff is the skills that this individual brings. Along with this information, a second assessment will be given to see the strengths of the individual. This information will be dealt with in two ways. The first is of vital importance, which is explaining it to the individual. It will be used to motivate and encourage many of the people who walk through our doors. Even if they never come back again, we want to make sure they go away knowing something good about themselves. Many of these people have been looked down upon and to go to a place that the first thing they do it tell you what is great about you for half an hour is fulfilling and worthwhile to an individual.

After a person goes through our intake process, they become a “member” of Fishers. We immediately seek a specific path for that member. Every week day,, Fishers will be open and workshops will take place. These workshops will be geared to specific areas of practical financial and economic knowledge. Because our goal is to teach practical knowledge, many workshops will be simulations. These simulations would include a banking area, mock grocery shopping, housing search area, healthcare area, child cost simulation, career center and more. These workshops may not all run every day, especially ones with a lower attendance. Our staff will walk the member through what they are to do in each area and if they need help, they will assist the individual, however; we believe it is of great importance for the members, who walk in to Fishers, to do it by oneself. This will be advantageous for the individual as it will promote determination during the process and confidence after it.

As the weekday workshops are specifically for those who have taken the intake survey, have opened a file, and are current members, the seminar series will differ. The seminar series will be open to any individual who is currently experiencing an economic hardship and just wants to learn more. These seminars will also provide a hot meal, which may be looked at as an incentive. At the beginning and end of these workshops, staffers will be available for anyone who wants to enter the program on a more consistent basis. For limited space seminars or speeches, priority will be given to those who are members.

Every workshop, seminar, and speech that a member attends will be documented on his or her file. This, we believe, is necessary because it shows the staff the progress that the member has made, the commitment level to the program, and also allows the staffer to speak adequately to what the member knows. We never want the situation to arise where any staffer at Fishers assumes that the member knows something. This can be upsetting and disheartening to a member who believes he or she has come far. At the same time, we never want a staffer talking at a level too rudimentary to the member. This may lend itself to the member becoming disinterested. By finding this balance, Fishers challenges the member to recall what they have learned without making the member feel inadequate or disheartened.

Community importance

As the process continues to educate the members, we at Fishers have another job. We wish to establish a good report with the community for a variety of reasons. The first and most obvious reason is to approach businesses with job openings and have our name mean something on a resume. We ultimately want to prepare our members for a job in the workforce. After working with us, we want members to put the tools they have learned into practice. Many homeless people do not have anything that a business would consider noteworthy to put on their resumes. With the help of Fishers, they can create a resume with the speeches they have attended and work they have done. We would also have staffers give excellent yet honest recommendations, yet other reason the initial intake form is kept on record as well as the record of all events they have attended.

Another way Fishers would help members secure jobs is by way of mock interviews. We understand many people that would come to us would not know prepare for and perform in one. By interviewing with staffers with whom they are familiar, the anxiety of an interview can be lessened.

Fishers is committed to providing business clothing to members. This is based on a donation basis and if necessary, funding. This is a reward and will only be given to a member if he or she is awarded an interview. Even if they do not receive the job, they will get to keep the clothing as a means of congratulations. This policy will hold for as many interviews as they accumulate. Potential jobs will be posted on the public board as well as given to the staffers. The staffers will be instructed to tell the members with whom they work about the opportunities and ask them if they are interested. They are even suggested to push a member they think would be good at this job in a respectful manner. Many homeless do not believe that they are good enough to apply to a job. With the motivation and encouragement of someone they look up to, this belief will change.

Other community relationships are important as we work with social services, businesses, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and healthcare providers. We also need the police office and local governments cooperation as we try to help members have previous criminal charges expunged that would look poor on a job application.

Tax groups would be hired to assist any employed member with takes and tax returns. The member can use this service for one year after they have received the job or one year after they have opened the intake survey, whichever benefits them more. After such a time has elapsed, they must learn through the workshops provided.

 

Life after member receives a job:

After a member receives a job, we are not finished with that person. If that person chooses never to come back, that is their choice but it will not be because we pushed that member out. We believe that the first three months after getting a job are the most important. First, we want to encourage that person. A job may seem tedious and not what that person wanted. The member may want to revert to being unemployed. Our job is to continually applaud this person’s effort. We immediately allow the member to place the new job on his or her resume. This will make the progress more apparent to the member and conjure feeling of accomplishment.

The next thing we do is work with the member to open a bank account. This comes with lessons of saving and spending money. We explain why taxes are taken out, how much should go toward necessities, and how much the person should save. We also try to conceptualize the worth of a dollar, as many have a blurred understanding of value. 

A member with a job may also be asked to give a speech to the other members of Fishers. This is beneficial in three ways. The speech will motivate new members of Fishers or potential members. The speech will give the speaker a since of great accomplishment. The speech will bring in more potential members to Fishers.

 

Location

            Fishers is in coastal Fairfield County, CT and also in the Greater Bridgeport area. This county is one of the wealthiest counties in the United States and the wealthiest in Metropolitan areas. This is largely due to the towns of Greenwich, Darien, Westport, etc. where per capita income medians hover around $55,000. This contrasts with the major city of Bridgeport. In Bridgeport, home to over 50,000 people, this per capita median income falls below $20,000. This is well below both the Connecticut and National averages. This situation in Fairfield County creates a “haves” and “have nots” economy which can be read about below in articles written by a local and national media outlet, respectfully. In the Greater Bridgeport area, there are 320 food pantries and 56 homeless shelters according to suntopia.org. There are less than a handful of career centers and almost all are geared toward people who have been employed in the past. The current unemployment rate in Bridgeport is 8.40% which is over 50% more than the national rate.

CT economic disparity

Deep Economic Divide

Volunteers

Volunteers are critical for our organization to fully operate. We at Fishers would be open to daily volunteers. These daily volunteers would perform the office work that needs to be filed. This would include filing the intake surveys and updating them to reflect the activities members have achieved. Volunteers would be responsible for updating the job board or looking for jobs online or in papers. Volunteers would also prove beneficial in helping set up and reset any workshops as well as prepare for speeches. Volunteers would not have much contact with members while they are in sessions or workshops. We at Fishers want the member to have valuable individual time with someone they trust and not random faces coming in and out. Volunteers would include students from the colleges and high schools around Fishers. We would also welcome adult volunteers from organizations or religious groups.


Thank you for reading through our description. If you would like more information or you would like to see exactly what your funds are going towards, please contact us and we would be happy to oblige!

Organizer

Jimmy Lipko
Organizer
Fairfield, CT

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