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The Impact Program

Empowering Arizona’s women on their journey to self-sufficiency.

Support for the journey to your best self.

The Impact Program provides women with the holistic services and support they need to build personalized pathways out of poverty and towards self-sufficiency.

Our strategic approach allows each woman to determine what steps are necessary to achieve goals and develop sustained behavioral changes, ultimately empowering her to not only achieve economic independence, but sustain it.


Focus One:
Stability

Meet the needs of women & their families while offering access to the tools, resources, & support necessary to develop long-term behavioral change through strategic goal-setting


Focus Two:
Education & employment

Provide access to in-demand, growth-oriented education & career opportunities, helping women secure careers that allow them to earn a self-sustaining wage, & provide for themselves & their families


Focus Three:
Self-sufficiency

Achieve economic independence & personal empowerment, decreasing reliance on government subsidies while contributing to the flourishing of Arizona’s economy

The Bridge to Self-Sufficiency®

The Bridge, summarized below, provides a framework for Fresh Start services. It takes a comprehensive approach to overcoming barriers, as a person is far more likely to achieve economic independence if they look across all areas of life, rather than tackling one area alone.

PILLAR ONE

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Family
stability

Reviews the stability of housing, safety of household, & ability to meet basic family needs

  • Family Law Support
  • Resource coaching & referrals
  • Family & parenting workshops
  • “She Thrives” program for young women, ages 12-17

PILLAR TWO

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Health &
Well-being

Assesses physical & mental health, as well as available support networks to help achieve goals

  • Peer-group & individual mentoring
  • Peer support groups
  • Individual heath coaching
  • Mental & physical health workshops

PILLAR THREE

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Financial
Management

Includes debt management, future planning, & ability to meet family’s financial needs

  • Financial coaching
  • Financial literacy workshops on budgeting, bill management, credit card use, home ownership, & more

PILLAR FOUR

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Education &
Training

Considers skills, education, & training necessary to pursue a chosen career

  • Small business start-up program
  • Career & vocational training scholarships
  • Workforce training programs
  • Education workshops

PILLAR FIVE

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CAREERS

Accounts for ability to earn a living wage in a job that meets career & future goals

  • Career training opportunities
  • Employment coaching & career advising
  • Computer literacy courses

Pioneering a new strategic approach

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Personalized,
one-on-one support

Each woman has the opportunity to establish an on-going, one-on-one relationship with a Fresh Start social worker who assesses her unique situation and coaches her based on her individual needs, giving her the tools need to both set and achieve strategic goals.

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Catalyzing new
change in Arizona

Fresh Start is the first organization in the
state of Arizona to implement this approach in partnership with Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPathways.org).

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Science-based,
evidence informed

Our approach leverages Mobility Mentoring—an evidence-informed model that considers the brain science of chronic stress in crisis decision making—and works to strengthen persistence and resilience over time through strategic goal setting.

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Building a
stronger community

With a network of employer and educator partners, Fresh Start works to create unlimited opportunities for Arizona’s women, giving them the skills they need to enter in-demand career fields. In working to empower Arizona’s women, we also contribute to enhancing Arizona’s economy.

Empower Arizona’s women to thrive

Access to education and career opportunities are essential to helping women cultivate sustainable, long-term change.

Your support of our mission ensures that we’re able to continue our important work of empowering Arizona’s women to succeed.

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Proven impact in every step forward.

Our goal achievement rate

Goal action plans allow women to identify what steps are necessary to build the life they want for themselves.

With support from Fresh Start staff, women are individually mentored and coached through the process of identifying, setting, and achieving goals as they take steps towards self-sufficiency.

Below is the goal achievement rate from the last fiscal year, organized by pillar:

Ninety percent achievement rate.

Pillar One:
Family Stability

Ninety percent achievement rate.

Pillar two:
Health &
Well-being

Ninety-one percent achievement rate.

Pillar three:
Financial
ManagemenT

Eighty-three percent achievement rate.

Pillar four:
Education
& Training

Eighty-eight percent achievement rate.

Pillar five:
Careers

Catalyzing multi-generational change

When a Fresh Start woman become self-sufficient, empowerment resounds well beyond the individual: she’s not only transformed her own life, but has also shifted the trajectory of her family and their future success.

Browse our success stories to learn more about our mission in action and how it creates long-term, multi-generational change in our community.