Raynier Institute & Foundation funded Episcopal Community Services’ (ECS’) MindSet program for the first time in 2020 for $75,000, in 2021 for $75,000, in 2022 $150,000, in 2023 for $175,000 and in 2024 for $125,000. This foundational support will help in impacting lives with graduations from MindSet and growing with new program recruits.
MindSet is ECS’ life-changing solution for highly motivated adults whose personal lives are generally stable, but who still require support in order to move themselves and their families out of poverty and beyond it for the next generation. With a metrics-driven innovative approach, ECS coaches program participants along the holistic “Bridge to Prosperity”: a five-pillar model for sustainable self-sufficiency which encompasses the following social determinants of health: Family Stability, Well-Being, Financial Management, Education/Training, and Employment/Career. MindSet coaches and specialists stand beside participants to help them set and meet their goals through one-on-one coaching to reinforce executive functioning skills, group learning activities, financial incentives and a savings match. This 5- to 7-year program is designed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, one family at a time, and is unique in the region.
The mission of Episcopal Community Services (ECS) is to challenge and reduce intergenerational poverty, and they do that through both direct service and advocacy. ECS envisions a world where a path out of poverty is available to all. Their four core values reflect that commitment – Justice, Dignity, Community and Impact – as do their racial equity principles. ECS’s professional staff of 130 works in partnership with the 30 members of the Board of Trustees and 125 additional volunteers to directly serve more than 2,000 participants annually. Established in 1870, ECS has a long history of responding to the needs of Philadelphia’s most vulnerable populations. They currently serve families at their community resource center at 6006 W. Girard Ave, at seven Out of School Time programs in north and west Philadelphia with its housing services, and with their MindSet program.