Circles of East Texas

Partners in Prevention (PIP) is a community coalition that seeks to involve the entire community through strategies that work at both the neighborhood and community-wide level. The City of Longview serves as the lead agency for the PIP program which will implement an innovative program entitled, 'Circles of East Texas' to foster family strengthening strategies. This program will be based on the Circles Campaign which improves family economic success, family support system, and builds thriving and nurturing communities where healthy families can pursue long-term goals. The mission of Circles Campaign is to transform communities by building relationships that inspire and equip people to end poverty. This model utilizes a 'circle of support' that surrounds a low-income individual or head of household consisting of two to four middle-class friends (called allies) who support an adult who would be determined to make her or his way out of poverty. The overarching goal of the PIP initiative is to empower families and build on their capacities to nurture their children and to lead their communities. PIP will create partnerships across service systems such as health, education, workforce development, community and faith-based organizations and businesses. There will be three phases of this initiative: I. Planning Phase (6-9 months): PIP will design the local 'Circles' initiative. The finished product will be a written strategy that includes a resource plan, staffing, and timeline for the pilot. II. Pilot Phase (36 months): PIP will work with between 30 to 40 families to implement this program model, and III. Field Testing Phase (36-60 months): PIP will garner additional sponsors in order to increase the scale of the Circles initiative throughout Longview and Gregg County. The Wilder Research Center is developing an effective evaluation tool for this initiative. The results will enable the project and their partners to determine whether the 'Circle Campaign' is meeting basic goals. CA/NCF