Part of the Community Workshop Series
45-minute workshop with a demonstration of the poverty-eliminating and
award-winning N2Work “app.”
Three questions the session will answer:
1) How many families in the Charlottesville community do not earn enough to meet their
basic needs of food, housing, utilities and clothing and the costs associated with
working—childcare and transportation?
2) What is the solution to poverty?
3) How can technology help us end poverty for Charlottesville’s families?
Today in the Charlottesville region there are 12,024 families that do not earn enough income to
meet the costs of survival. That is nearly one out of every five families (19%) in our community.
Most are single mothers and their children.
PVCC built the Network2Work program to move these 12,024 families to income independence
and break the cycle of multi-generational poverty. We identify these struggling families through
our Peer Network, connect them to quality jobs through our Employer Network, and support
them through our Provider Network. We plan to help lift 4,000 families out of poverty over the
next eight years. We use locally-developed technology to connect these three networks.
Peer/Job-Seeker Network. Our initial challenge is finding these families. Most distrust or are
disconnected from the very institutions established to serve them. Network2Work uses a
political-style ground game of more than 150 well-connected “peers” in low-income
neighborhoods to identify job-seekers. These peers, people who “know everybody,” lie at the
heart of our approach. They identify low- and no-income individuals who would be a good fit
for a quality job available in our community.
Employer Network. Jobs are the solution to poverty because money is the solution to poverty.
Network2Work has recruited a broad base of local employers with available jobs that pay a
minimum of $25,000 per year and do not require a college degree.
Provider Network. Job-seekers often need support beyond the skills training that PVCC provides.
We collaborate with over 40 existing nonprofits and human services agencies to meet needs
ranging from childcare scholarships and loaner cars to emergency funds and housing vouchers.
The Network2Work program developed a smartphone-based “app” that allows peers to connect
their job-seekers automatically with providers who can address an identified need.
PVCC’s Network2Work has provided 500 job-seekers with pathways to survival and family-
sustaining wages. Our goal is to move ALL families to economic independence.
You will need a
Free Festival Pass to attend.
