PSU Magazine Winter 1997

enise Gour MSW '96 believes peop le trying to find their way out of poverty have the means to help themselves-if only they're given the proper mix of opportunity and freedom. After pur uing several less-than- atisfying means of bringing power to the people through cable television, Gour has found her niche in a new social service program in Portland that's shaped by those who stand to gain the most from the program's services. The program is known as GEARS, an acronym for "G iving Empower– ment, Access, Responsibility and Service." GEARS offers a direct, grass– roots approach for southeast Portland families who are coping with the myriad difficulties of living in poverty. "Social work is really at a cross– roads," says Gour, who also holds a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Texas. Gour became convinced during her three years of study at PSU's Graduate School of Social Work that the most 18 P U MAGAZI E WINTER 1997 effective way of helping people was to go into the field, a king people about their needs rather than te lling them what to do. "In the past, there's been a major emphasis in social work on productiv– ity-seeing the greate t number of people by having them come to an office for therapy or adv ice," says Gour. "If a social worker goes directly to a client in the field, that's viewed as time-consuming; you cou ld serve three people in the office during the same time you're dealing with one person in the field. But peop le need to ask, 'How effective is the therapy? Are the people better off? Will they resume their old ways when the therapy se sions are over?'" Gour believes many well-meaning anti-poverty programs fa ll short because they're filled with middle-class a sumptions and advice. "Many of the people giving advice can't really relate to being a ingle parent who has difficulty just getting transportation to work, let alone getting work in the first place," says Gour. The willingness of the Graduate School of Social Work to expose students to alternative social service programs is helping this alum help others. By Brian White Last spring, while finishing her studies at Portland State, Gour became aware of a new program jointly formed by Metropolitan Family Service and Network Behavioral HealthCare, to serve southeast Portland's Brentwood/ Darlington and Lents neighborhoods. Gour immediately liked the premise behind community-based GEARS: engage the services of neighborhood activists-people who have a track record of serv ing the community and who deal with the neighborhoods' poverty problem on a daily ba i - rather than hire mental health or social work profe sionals who come with an outs ider's point of view. Having graduated from Portland State last June, Gour soon got a job as GEARS' program coordinator. She now has a team of several "coaches," local residents who know neighbor– hood needs fir thand. They assess the needs, then match them with people who can provide tho e needs. "The idea i to place the program in the hands of people who have already faced challenge of poverty-and are