EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS

In addition to meeting the immediate needs of community members, a key component of Sharing House’s mission is to partner with neighbors to set goals and work toward long-term financial independence. Our empowerment programs create opportunities for knowledge sharing, skills development, and confidence-building. Graduates are the best advocates and recruiters for our empowerment programs and offer valuable feedback for how to engage the community in the conversation about poverty-reduction.    

Getting Ahead, our signature empowerment program investigates the impact of poverty and its effect on individual lives and on the community. Participants focus on building resources and planning for future success. Graduates implement their own plans and build resources, tools, and skills needed for stability.

Growing A Business, a new entrepreneurship class, integrates the expertise of local business owners from a variety of backgrounds. Participants will hear from professionals in retail, construction, and hospitality services about the basics of starting, growing, and sustaining a small business.

Peer Mentoring at Sharing House was kicked off through a Community Foundation of Western North Carolina “Human Need” grant, which provides an opportunity for neighbors to utilize a certified life coach for up to six sessions, and to train graduates to be peer mentors.

The "R" Rules for Youth is a collaboration with Davidson River School that encourages youth to identify resources and relationships for academic, career, and life planning. When students take ownership of their stories, they improve their chances of personal and professional success.  

Transportation- Wheels to Work

Reliable transportation can be the difference between maintaining employment and losing a job, and in turn, housing. For more than twenty years, Wheels to Work has sourced vehicles for low-income neighbors, enabling them to grow their income and work toward sustainable independence.  

We work with donors to make the title transfer easy to give to Sharing House with full tax advantage documentations. We then have a gifted volunteer who refurbishes each vehicle to ensure they are road-worthy. Neighbors who apply to receive a vehicle must go through a budgeting process and driver background check.

Neighbors pay a $20 monthly payment for 24 months for the final purchase of each vehicle. By offering folks investment in this program as a hand-up, neighbors build up their own self-confidence and dignity. They create a new opportunity for personal self-reliance.

If you are thinking of trading vehicles, please consider donating instead to Wheels to Work, and be a part of empowering neighbors life for the better!