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B. Organization Capability (Continued) 4. How does your program differ from similar ones provided in the community? How do the programs complement those offered by other agencies? Dr. Ruby Payne defines poverty as the lack of resources. Thus, the resources a person needs extend beyond just income, food, and housing. Poverty is a complex issue that requires multiple areas of support. United Against Poverty's programs are designed to be holistic and provide immediate relief to individuals to stabilize their lives, then provide additional support services and solutions to move those individuals toward economic self-sufficiency. Altogether our programs provide a very unique method to identifying and eliminating the root causes of poverty. Our foundational programs provide a platform in which we deliver services through Crisis Center (emergency resource provision), Life Enrichment Center (educational and outreach services), Member Share Grocery Program (subsidized groceries and household necessities) and our Workforce Development Program (STEP, STEP Rapid Employment and STEP Bootcamp). Our organization's purpose is to empower individuals to lift themselves and their families out of poverty by providing a hand up, not a hand out. We achieve this by incorporating a two-way giving model that allows a person to be an active participant in their transformation and success. We are not a food bank or nonprofit organization that provides one-way charity. We provide participants access to emergency food, and ongoing food assistance through our education and crisis stabilization program. Participants receive pantry points for each class they attend. For long term hunger relief, we offer a nonprofit grocery model in our Member Share Grocery Program where members select their own grocery items based on their needs and share in the cost at an average savings of 63% compared to a traditional grocery center. This program alone preserved over $ $4,823,269.23 in household budgets in 2018. In 2014, United Against Poverty focused on employment through our job readiness program, Success Training Employment Program (STEP). STEP does not to duplicate services already being provided to individuals within the county by design. We provide services to those who are not currently served due to moderate to extreme barriers to employment. Individuals with barriers such as lack of work history, poor work history, criminal records and educational limitations are not preferred choices for programs that focus on making quick and easy placements of highly qualified candidates. Our program does not disenfranchise those individuals. Our goal is to work with those individuals and provide them the resources to transition from unemployment to self-sufficiency; providing them the ongoing resources they need to progress in employment and ultimately permanently break the cycle of poverty in their lives. Through our efforts with STEP, we recognized the need to design a pre -STEP curriculum, one-week version of the coursework for those who may have more challenges to employment and who are not ready for a full 6 -week course. The STEP Bootcamp provides a primer to the full STEP course and helps the participant determine if they are ready to commit to the full course. On the opposite end of the spectrum, for people that come into our center seeking assistance who have marketable skills and our job developer feels can be placed without completing STEP curriculum, is our Rapid Employment Program (REP). The goal of the REP is to offer job services and capture employment opportunities for participants who are ready to secure employment immediately. 5. Please describe the staffing requirements of these programs. Be specific in indicating the number of paid professional positions and paid support staff positions. Our job training programs have two full time staff members who are dedicated to STEP Bootcamp, STEP Phasel and STEP REP. Those positions are the STEP Facilitator and Job Developer. The two positions are managed by the Program Manager who also facilitates, provides administrative support, and engages in the job mentoring component of the programs. Our Intake Specialist and Crisis Care Coordinator also dedicate a portion of their time to the program. Because the program includes 3 years of support to ensure the participant remains employed, STEP includes 3 Success Coaches, who currently manage 322 STEP graduates. Additionally, STEP includes a strong volunteer component. The program design incorporates professional mentors who work hand-in-hand with the staff to provide support to the participants. The program also incorporates guest facilitators from collaborative community partners. Interview skills workshops include volunteer Human Resource professionals from our current Procurement Partners such as Wal-Mart, CVS and Tropicana. We are highly collaborative an '1 5'9 me the opportunity to leverage the expertise of