About FII – National

The Family Independence Initiative: A Third Alternative
After a lecture explaining The Family Independence Initiative at a UC Berkeley class, the professor summarized FII as an alternative that just hasn’t been considered in this country. Loosely quoted he explained, “the conservatives believe in ‘trickle down’ and the liberals believe in developing programs to help low income families, but maybe there is a third alternative.”

That third alternative is to shift the responsibility and resources for solutions back to the families supported by their natural community of friends and extended family. Current antipoverty approaches assume that low income families don’t take initiative, can’t manage money and aren’t willing to help on another. FII tested this premise by making monetary awards available to families that worked together to get ahead. FII threatened its staff that if they led the families in any way they would be fired. We wanted to see what the capacity of the families was to work together in peer groups, turning primarily to one another.

To the surprise of the Commission originally set up to oversee the original Oakland pilot, the families made amazing progress, starting businesses, buying homes and getting their kids to do better in school. A study on a sample of the families made by an outside evaluator confirmed the progress and pointed indicated that the success was due primarily to the “hands-off” environment set up by FII that forced or challenged the families to take control and not look for solutions by outsiders.

SO WHAT WORKS?

Natural Community
FII will not work with individuals or individual families. Families apply to FII as a group or as part of an existing group consisting of friends and extended family that will be there for each other long past the time that FII stops providing support. Everyone has a community of friends and family and FII encourages a rebuilding of community where it is faltering. It does take a Village to succeed.

A Trusting, Challenging, Non-paternal Environment
The families are asked whether they really want professional staff that knows little of their culture to provide them with direction or whether they feel they can develop their own paths and solutions by turning to others in their community that they trust. In all cases the families opt to turn to one another and lead their own change. They also come to realize that a solution is not going to come in from the outside and so they focus on developing their own paths and “owning” their own solutions. For some it is trial and error, but we all learn that way.

Tiered Levels of Financial Awards Over Time
Computer: Upon enrollment each family gets a computer and must then report their progress online every month. This also helps families to communicate.

Step Awards: Up to $2,000 for progress (i.e. $25 for increased kids grades, saving, getting training, etc.).

Bigger Assets: Up to $2,000 as 2:1 match for each dollar a family saves towards home purchase, business development or education.

Community Building Awards: Up to $600 for recruiting other friends and supporting them thus reducing need for professional staff.

Leadership Development Fellowships: Paid Fellowships for taking greater leadership in your community and for helping impact poverty outside of your community.

Connections: Participating families are given connections to resources that will help them meet their goals, such as real estate agents, trainers, or others trained professionals.

FII – National works with local leaders in philanthropy and the private sectors that help open doors.

FII – National also provides connections to nonprofit or government programs and seeks to make these programs more responsive to families.