COACHING

The Project

Provide Coaching Services to the White House Rural IMPACT Initiative

The White House Rural Council created “Rural IMPACT,” an initiative to enhance quality of life and upward mobility for children in rural and tribal communities through Two-Generation Programs, supporting the children and the parents. The program provides technical assistance and other support for 10 communities, with the demonstrated successes shared with other communities.

The Plan

I was engaged to provide coaching to leaders in two of the 10 communities. I held one-on-one sessions with community leaders to help set goals and plan the improvements and behavior change required to achieve those goals.

The Results

Through regular coaching sessions, each leader was able to explore new ideas and find new solutions to seemingly intractable challenges, developing effective programs and partnerships to help alleviate poverty in their community. In addition, we piqued the interest of policymakers who saw the merit of the Two-Gen approach. This led to the signing of an executive order by the Governor of Maryland to commission a study that will provide recommendations on how the state can link programs and services that create opportunities for parents and their children. If the study’s findings are positive, then we can expect that the Two-Gen approach will become part of public policy.