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This is part of our Community Cultivator series, which highlights how innovators across all sectors build and sustain global communities from the ground up.

The history of , which stands for Economic Mobility Pathways, goes back to 1824, when the Boston Female Moral Reform Society arose, and while the name and almost everything else is different today, the words President and CEO Kim Janey uses to describe the people they serve might well have been spoken 200 years ago: 鈥淭hey may be experiencing the worst time of their lives. They鈥檙e very vulnerable, and so our job is to provide support that is respectful and meaningful.鈥�

鈥淜im’s dedication and experience serving the Boston community is well documented, but what may be lesser known is her incredible ability as a leader to bring different groups and perspectives together to get things done, said D鈥橝rcy Goldman, chair of EMPath鈥檚 board of directors.

As EMPath prepares to celebrate its bicentennial, Early Learning Nation magazine spoke to Janey about the organization鈥檚 present and future. Here鈥檚 what we learned:

The fight against poverty has evolved. A sharp difference between 19th- and 21st-century strategies is the value EMPath places on the experience, wisdom and strengths of participants. 鈥淲e meet them where they are,鈥� said Janey, who took the helm of EMPath in June 2022, after serving as mayor of Boston in 2021, 鈥渙r as one participant said, where they dream. We help participants to self-assess, and then our coaches strategize with them to identify goals and to remove barriers that pop up. They have regular meetings to ensure that progress is happening.鈥�

pairs participants with EMPath mentors to collaborate on setting and achieving goals that might include family stability, well-being, education and training. For participants who start the process while living in a shelter, the support continues after they find housing. 鈥淲e work with them through our stabilization program,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e continue to check in, to see if the habits stick.鈥�

Participants drive the organization. Just as businesses survey their customers, EMPath solicits feedback from the people who use its services. Janey cites one comment: 鈥淭he unique support and opportunities that you and your colleagues have extended to me and my loved ones leave me with immense gratitude, and I would wholeheartedly recommend your organization to any individuals in similar circumstances.鈥�

鈥淧articipants are the experts on their lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o we value that kind of feedback as much as the economic indicators.鈥� Goldman says, 鈥淜im understands and appreciates the value of collaboration among EMPath鈥檚 program participants, mentors and other staff to tackle the challenge of disrupting poverty, particularly in partnership with local and state leaders.鈥�

Because studies show marked increases in earnings, credit scores and other measures 鈥� as well as what Janey calls 鈥渇inding their voice and power鈥� 鈥� the approach is spreading beyond the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts. A robust global learning network called the is reaching communities across the country and includes a growing cohort of international nongovernmental organizations. The network also includes dozens of early childhood programs that are integrating EMPath鈥檚 coaching model to support families to move ahead.

Advocacy complements the mentoring. Janey maintained that poverty happens not because of individual choices but because of history and the systems into which people are born. She recalls a recent conference of social workers where a sizable portion of the room expressed surprise that the issues they tackled had more to do with structural issues than personal decisions.

鈥淪ome of us understood that a long time ago,鈥� she shrugged, before emphasizing the great potential for eradicating local, state and federal barriers that prevent participants from acquiring assets and building wealth for themselves. Baby Bonds and supports for entrepreneurship and home ownership are on her list of solutions 鈥渢hat allow them to take greater control of their lives and push back on some of those systemic issues.鈥�

Empathy means drawing upon personal history. Janey鈥檚 experience as Boston鈥檚 first female and first Black mayor during a particularly challenging moment (and, before that, on the city council) gives her valuable insight into the barriers to economic mobility. Perhaps more importantly, she also connects with EMPath鈥檚 participants on a personal level 鈥� as someone who benefited from the organization鈥檚 programs as a teen mother. 鈥淭hat experience was life-changing,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t helped prepare me for the path that led to the mayor’s office.鈥� During the 1970s and 1980s, when buildings in Roxbury were boarded up and fights over busing students like her were tearing the city apart, she recalls deriving strength from the neighborhood鈥檚 people, culture and history.

Everyone needs support. Once a scared, pregnant teenager, Janey is now a grandmother of a college student who sometimes needs reminders to ask for advice when he needs it. The President of the United States, she reminds him, has special advisors. CEOs have people to check their thinking, particularly if they鈥檙e trying to make an important decision.

鈥淧art of what ails us as a society is that we believe in the fairy tale that everyone has done this on their own,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not true. Social networks have always mattered.鈥�

EMPath normalizes the idea that all of us, not just teen moms or individuals struggling with homelessness, need someone to talk to. Recently named an , she is looking forward to 鈥渉aving 19 mentors that I can talk to and see what they’re experiencing, and how they overcome this, and what was their strategy around that.鈥�

found the median net worth for white households in Greater Boston was $247,500 dollars, compared to a mere $8 for Black households. Just last month, revealed that less than half of Massachusetts鈥檚 third graders are proficient in reading. EMPath will continue to combat these grim statistics for the next 200 years, or as long as it takes.

This story originally published on Early Learning Nation and is now archived on 麻豆精品. Learn more here.