NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Jason Probst with Circles of Hope Reno County let Hutch Post know about an event the group is holding on Thursday in Hutchinson.
"The event will be in Thorne Hall at Trinity United Methodist Church at the corner of 17th and Main," Probst said. "If people park on the parking lot facing 17th and walk in the door, they'll see signs directing them upstairs. We'll start the event at 6:30 p.m. We'll have our normal Circles meeting that we have at 5:30 p.m. and that will go until 6:30 p.m. We'll end that a little bit early so we can transition to this. This will run from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m."
Staff members, Circle Leaders, and volunteers will be on hand to share their Circles experience, success stories, and to demonstrate how the Circles model creates positive outcomes for families working to move up and out of poverty in the community.
"We hope the allies will share what they've learned about poverty, having worked with Circle Leaders," Probst said. "We'll have Circle Leaders talk about the benefit of the Circles program to them in helping them find some stability and progress in their lives and talk about the way the relationship with their allies have enriched their lives and helped them find a path forward into middle class life."
There will also be a presentation on the cliff effect. Probst explains what that term means.
"That's basically a phenomenon that exists where, as people start making more money, if they've been receiving food benefits or assistance with child care, there's a certain point where those benefits go away and it becomes a net loss for people to continue working towards making more money," Probst said. "That's a policy decision that I really hope we can work on, to create some change on that, because it really disincentivizes progress and growth and work and an increase in income, because people hit a certain point and they lose the stabilizing factors in their life that help them achieve more."
Probst is in a unique position to lead on the issue from a policy perspective as a State Representative from Hutchinson's 102nd District.
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