Everyone Has a Story: A Reflection on 2012 Listening Sessions

Sometimes we meet people whose expressions and face momentarily stop us in our tracks, but we ignore the quiet invitation in their eyes to empathetically listen to their story. In the nonprofit and philanthropic world, this can too often be the case. Our tireless push to meet endless need, pressing deadlines and other urgent tasks which enable us to serve can pull our attention away from giving the person in front of us our undivided attention. Unfortunately, many people who experience poverty every day face marginalization within the various systems they encounter. Not only can this make them feel “invisible” when their voices are missing or intentionally overlooked, the organization loses out on important insights that can strengthen the effectiveness of their work. A recent Stanford Social Innovation Review Spring 2013 article Listening to Those Who Matter Most, the Beneficiaries states, “The views and experiences of the people who benefit from social programs are often overlooked and underappreciated, even though they are an invaluable source of insight into a program’s effectiveness” (p. 41).

Since 2010, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina has listened directly to the voices of individuals and families through Listening Sessions. Our Listening Sessions engage families experiencing poverty by listening directly to their stories in the supportive presence of community stakeholders that walk alongside them each day. Structured differently than a grantee site visit, Listening Sessions create a collective space to engage individuals served with the primary focus on their perspectives. In 2012, three Listening Sessions were strategically designed to uplift the stories of individuals served by current Foundation grantees. The first Listening Session held in April 2012 in partnership with Helping and Lending Outreach Support (HALOS) in Charleston provided an opportunity to listen to the stories of kinship caregivers who live each day as the Unsung Heroes in the lives of children they care for. The second Listening Session in collaboration with the Puentes Project/PASOS in Columbia gave us the opportunity to hear from the Puentes Community Ambassadors who are compassionately leading as Bridges of Light in their communities. The third Listening Session held jointly with GRACE Ministries in Georgetown brought us face-to-face with home-bound and chronically ill senior citizens whose lives are Touched by Grace by the volunteers that serve them.

We listened deeply and empathetically to these statewide issues at a local level through the perspectives of individuals served, applying Grantmakers for Effective Organization’s (GEO) Widespread Empathy definition of empathy to our work. GEO defines empathy as “the ability to reach outside ourselves and connect in a deeper way with other people – to understand their experiences, to get where they are coming from, to feel what they feel” (p. 4). What we heard surprised us; and at times even moved us to tears as we listened to their struggles, hopes, and fears. We walked away reminded that everyone has a story. When we stop to listen empathetically to the experiences of those we serve, their stories can illuminate and inform the ways grantmakers and nonprofit organizations strategically respond to the remaining unmet need.

Read the 2012 Listening Session Summary, Everyone Has a Story.

Written By: Stephanie Cooper-Lewter, Ph.D., Senior Research Director

Latino Immigrant Families in South Carolina

Although South Carolina is a relatively new settlement area for Latino immigrants compared to other regions of the country, the State has experienced unprecedented growth in the Latino population over the past few decades. The most recent U.S. Census data show from 2000 to 2010, the South Carolina Hispanic population increased 148%. Between 2008 and 2010 in South Carolina, 88% of Latino children were citizens by birth, 65% lived in immigrant families, and 33% lived in linguistically isolated households. The Foundation hosted several Listening Sessions, site visits and meetings to inform our understanding of the impact of this trend, listening directly to the experiences of foreign-born and native-born Latinos from across the State.

Research shows Latino immigrant families in South Carolina often face economic hardship, educational challenges, and difficulty in accessing health care. In 2010, the median annual personal earnings for Hispanics in South Carolina was $18,000. During 2008-2010, 40% of South Carolina’s Latino families experienced poverty at the 100% poverty level, and 70% experienced poverty at the 200% poverty level. Of the more than 725,000 students enrolled during the 2010-2011 school year across South Carolina’s K-12 public schools, 6% were Latino. Although education is one of the greatest predictors for moving above the poverty line, Latino students across the State lag behind their white peers educationally, mirroring national trends in the majority of other states. 46% of Latinos are without health insurance in South Carolina; and nearly one out of every four Latino children go without adequate health care.

Our Foundation is committed to sharing knowledge on a range of issues that families experiencing poverty in South Carolina face. Our recently released Research Brief, Latino Immigrant Families in South Carolina, explores the above demographic changes and highlights eight themes that emerged through our research conversations with Latinos. These themes include motivation to migrate, making the journey, acculturation processes, shifting family expectations, multi-status families, economic hardships, educational challenges and health concerns. Building upon cultural strengths, increased family support services are needed to improve outcomes of Latino families across the State. Strategies employed to foster family resilience and strengthen Latino families should be implemented in culturally responsive and appropriate ways.

Continuing in the tradition of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, our Foundation remains invested in the future of South Carolina to ensure all families have the resources to live out of poverty. We apply our core values of compassion, courage, respect, justice and collaboration as we continue to work with our community partners to address multiple obstacles faced by Latino families across the state. We will continue to work towards solutions in partnership with the Latino community to reduce the barriers Latino families face in order to promote family economic well-being and improve the socioeconomic status of all South Carolina’s residents.

To read the Research Brief, Latino Immigrant Children in South Carolina, including citations for the above statistics, please go to: Sisters of Charity Foundation Research Brief

Written by: Stephanie Cooper-Lewter, Ph.D., Senior Director of Research

Research Through Listening

I recently visited a small rural community in South Carolina, and passed a homeless young woman sitting in her car on a side street. I learned that during the long, cold winter nights, she sleeps bundled up with in blankets. When it is too cold for her body to bear, she turns her car on―in desperation―to generate a little extra heat. As I entered the building across the street from her parked car, she discretely moved her vehicle farther down the street as not to attract any further attention.

Although she hoped to be “invisible,” her presence over the past few weeks had already been noticed by the local community pastor. Realizing her needs, he enlisted a community member to approach her car and compassionately inquire about her well-being, “Are you okay? It’s cold out here; you could die.”

“If I’m lucky, I will,” was her response, reflecting the vast depth of her hopelessness and despair. Since that encounter, the pastor has quietly worked behind the scenes recruiting the community to watch over her, acknowledging her presence in a way that maintains her fragile sense of dignity and respect.

As I saw this woman sitting in her car and heard the pastor share her story, a million questions flooded my mind. Did she have family or friends concerned about her well-being and looking for her? What had happened in her life that had brought her to this place of desperation and loneliness? Would she ever trust someone enough to express her current needs and concerns?

Unfortunately, this young woman is not alone. South Carolina is a state with a history of significant poverty.There are twelve counties that have experienced persistent poverty for years, and there are many other men or women facing the same sense of isolation and hopelessness.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina works to identify ways to document its collaborative efforts to reduce poverty in South Carolina. Often termed as “research,” it also includes listening to those experiencing poverty directly, along with other leaders and stakeholders in their community. It is one way to find answers to some of these questions and seek solutions to better our communities.

In an effort to really listen to those experiencing poverty and hear the voices of those who work daily in service to the poor, the Foundation is conducting several “Listening Sessions” in selected communities across the state this year. The first Listening Session was held in Allendale in March, and the Foundation will travel to Johns Island this month.

According to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, “Change can only happen when everyone who is affected has a seat at the table and has the opportunity to speak.” The Foundation hopes the listening sessions will allow us to use the gift of listening in order to better understand the potential concerns and solutions that could be utilized to meet unmet needs, and identify ways to facilitate change across the state where persistent poverty and hopelessness can abound.

Stephanie Cooper-Lewter is the senior director of research and special programs for the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina