Copper Shores Bridges Ontonagon Workshop shares how community leaders can impact local cycles of poverty

The communities of the western upper peninsula are full of hardworking people trying to get by. Living pay to paycheck can become draining, not just on the bank account, but on a person’s physical and mental health too. Over the past couple of years Copper Shores Bridges has worked throughout Houghton County, and more recently in Baraga County, to empower people caught in a cycle of poverty to take control of their financial health.

So we’ve had four cohorts go through Houghton County in the last two years, which has been great. And we have class, once they graduate from the Getting Ahead class, they can take a class called Money Matters and Brain Health. And so it’s been immaculate to see our graduates go through the program and overall become more stable in our lives. – Michael Steber,  Program Director, Copper Shores Bridges

Another way the program engages the community happens through bringing community leaders together at workshops to learn how poverty challenges take a full community effort to address. In December Copper Shore Bridges will host its first workshop in Onotnagon, before introducing the Bridges courses to the area. Those interested in registering for the workshop in Ontonagon can find more information here.