Over the past year, Climb Wyoming was one of 15 organizations in the nation recognized for its expertise in multigenerational work. The nonprofit recently wrapped up the 2Gen Accelerator Community program through Ascend at the Aspen Institute.
Through the program, the nonprofit worked to define its best practices for lifting families out of generational poverty. With six locations across Wyoming, Climb provides free job training and mental health support for low-income single moms.
Ascend has a network of over 600 organizations that use two-generation strategies to better the lives of both children and parents. The family-centered approach integrates services that simultaneously benefit both parties, such as childcare services offered on college campuses.
Climb CEO Katie Hogarty said that 100 of those organizations were invited to apply to be part of the 2Gen cohort, with Climb being one of the 15 selected.
“ To be able to participate with other really strong organizations that are leading the effort and leading this work across the country, it was validating and honoring,” she said.
Hogarty said the program affirmed that Climb’s approach of combining mental health work and job training brings something unique to the state and even the nation.
“ We heard on many occasions, ‘No one else is doing this. You're the only group that we've seen that is really living at this intersection, which has such a long-term impact,’” she said.
Climb was founded in 1986 by psychologist Dr. Ray Fleming Dinneen and her mother. The 12-week program uses a holistic, trauma-informed approach. Participants receive individual and group counseling, as well as training for positions like nursing assistants or truck drivers.
Hogarty said that participating in the 2Gen cohort also clarified that one of Climb’s strengths is working with other organizations and community partners.
“ We don't want to duplicate other efforts that are out there. We want to be good stewards of donor dollars and we want to be effective and efficient,” she said. “One of the ways that we do that is by really listening to the community, employers and moms to help build the strategy of the program.”
According to the organization’s website, Climb has supported 12,000 moms and 25,000 kids over the last 40 years.
“ When you choose to work with moms, you know that you're impacting the second generation,” said Hogarty. “We've structured our program to support parents and children.”
Hogarty also credited the organization’s long-standing data infrastructure as a big help in demonstrating its impacts over time. Now that the 2Gen cohort has wrapped up, Climb is figuring out how to strengthen and scale its best practices.
“ How can we learn from what we know works to support other strong programming, so that we can have a stronger impact in the state of Wyoming and potentially beyond?” said Hogarty.
The current state of funding for federal agencies has created some uncertainty for the organization. According to Hogarty, about half of Climb’s funding comes from the federal government.
“ While we haven't received any cuts or freezes yet, we do anticipate them,” she said. “Making sure that we're stable into the future so that we can continue to provide these strong services across the country is our priority.”
Hogarty said her other priority is maintaining Climb’s workforce if federal funding is paused in the future. But she said the organization is already seeing the ways in which other federal cuts are impacting families across Wyoming.
“Housing is a barrier, transportation is a barrier, childcare is a barrier. Cost of living is higher and families are really struggling and there's fewer resources in the community to meet those needs,” she said. “Participants are coming to Climb with more barriers and fewer resources, so we're working as closely with community partners as we can to make sure that families aren't falling through the gaps that are created right now.”
