Michael Steber, right, director of the Copper Shores Bridges program, talk with volunteers Mike Christiansen, Cindy Drife and Kim Goffinet before a class Tuesday night. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo)

HOUGHTON — A new program is helping equip people with the tools and resources they need to become more stable and self-sufficient.

Copper Shores Bridges had its first classes in January 2023. The program, part of the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, consists of multiple courses.

The introductory class, Getting Ahead, is a 16-week course where people learn about situational and generational poverty, how to identify resources that can help them and how to create a plan for a better future.

“Really, it’s just a class to help people take a look at themselves and analyze their lives, and really come up with a plan for themselves to become more stable,” said Michael Steber, director of the program. “It’s not a handout, it’s a hand up.”

Bridges is open to people in Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties. To be eligible, people must be below 200% of the federal poverty level. They also cannot be on permanent disability insurance or in a major crisis. For people battling addiction, they must also have been sober for at least six months.

“The key factor is that we’re looking for people that are really at a point in their life where they’re serious about making some changes, and they just need some help,” Steber said.

As facilitator of the class, Steber and the others follow the Getting Ahead curriculum, developed about 20 years ago. For almost every session, Steber brings in guest speakers who can share connections for a job, help with volatile relationships, or point them to other resources.

The activities highlight what’s going well in people’s lives and where they’re having setbacks, whether that’s financial issues, relationship problems or employment.

“Some folks are working two, three jobs, and they need to find that one good job where they’re more stable with benefits,” Steber said. “So for every person, the stability factors are something different.”

The latest Getting Ahead cohort includes Danielle Thoune. She applied after seeing a post on Copper Shores’ Facebook page last winter.

She’s seen the most benefit in getting to interact with others. She’s also appreciated getting to learn about the community resources available to people in need. Organizations such as Michigan Rehab Services, which assists people with disabilities, come and give presentations to the group.

“It’s really cool to network with people that are in your same predicament and those who have gone through everything that you may or may not have gone through, but then also the resources that they’re connecting us with in the community to help better ourselves and our family and our future,” she said.

Thoune moved to the area with her newborn son in 2020, two weeks before COVID hit. When the early shutdowns happened, her job went with them.

She’s made use of other local resources to help, earning a new home through Habitat for Humanity she moved into last year.

“I’m working my way through everything with Habitat and work and school and education, and this was just one more piece of the puzzle to help propel me into the potential that I know I have,” she said. “Just life and circumstances haven’t always aligned with what I need and want out of life.”

Thoune’s biggest takeaway from the program is “even when you think that you’re down and out, there’s always a way out.”

“It doesn’t matter how much you go through, you can look at your neighbor, and you can find somebody that has been through it or can help you through it,” she said. “But it’s possible to just see that light on the other side. That’s awesome.”

So far, 25 people have graduated from Getting Ahead, which is on its third cohort. Once people graduate from Getting Ahead, they can take Money Matters, a financial literacy class.

Jill Lindenberg, manager of the Houghton branch of Superior National Bank, has led both cohorts.

The class uses the Dave Ramsey Financial Solutions program, which stresses the importance of setting aside money for an emergency fund. By the time the first students graduated, they both had one in place, Lindenberg said.

Students also track their expenses over a week, then project it over a full year to see what they could gain by cutting out unnecessary items.

“For example, fast food, cigarettes — just spending that you don’t realize if you could curb it how much of a difference it would make in your finances in a year,” she said. “Those are things people are taking hold of.”

Lindenberg’s been impressed by both classes. The students encourage each other, and are very open to changing their circumstances for the better.

“Especially generationally, many of them are parents, so they want to figure out how to set themselves up in a better position for their kids,” she said.

Bridges hopes to launch a third class on overall wellness this summer.

Steber is proud of the turnaround he’s seen from the people in class. When they show up, many of them are “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he said.

“The biggest reward that I get is that I get to see people grow with confidence, and empowerment, and just the tools that they need to become successful,” Steber said.

People can get started in the program by submitting an application to coppershores.org/bridges, which is followed by an in-person interview.

For more information on the program, go to coppershores.org/bridges or call Steber at 906-523-5920.