Posts by Ruth Weirich:

The tyranny of the moment – how economic class differences impact success in higher education

January 16, 2015 Published by

“The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all your time.” Willem de Kooning quoted in the Richmond, Virginia Times-Dispatch When working with higher education professionals who support under-resourced college students, we start by discussing the mental models of three economic classes (poverty, middle class and wealth). Doing so allows us... View Article

Not a News Flash… Poverty is an indicator of college enrollment and graduation

November 23, 2014 Published by

Examining data from more than 3.5 million high school graduates, a report released by the National Student Clearinghouse states that poverty remains a more important indicator of whether a student will enroll/attend college than other factors. Those of us that work with under-resourced students know that there are two important ways to help your students a)... View Article

Creating Employer Stability by Investing in Employees

September 25, 2014 Published by

Employers are constantly looking for ways to increase productivity and motivation while improving the bottom line. Recently, I’ve read two books on how investing in your workforce creates employer stability. The first book is The Good Jobs Strategy by Zeynep Ton. Ton’s research shows how operational excellence means sustainable wages,... View Article

Parental Involvement of First-Generation Students

August 21, 2014 Published by

I recently read an article that was discussing the challenge of parental involvement amongst first-generation students in higher education. Thinking about this topic led me to a series of questions: How do we educate educators on how economic class impacts the success of first-generation students? How do we understand why... View Article

The doors are open. Now, how do you support them, retain them and graduate them?

May 6, 2014 Published by

I recently read an article titled, The Good that Community Colleges Do, Part 1. What I like about this article is not the controversy or whether practitioners and politicians agree or disagree about the four key areas that the author addresses. What I like is that these four topics provide opportunities... View Article

Ellis Hospital – A Bridges to Health and Healthcare Success Story

February 26, 2014 Published by

As a healthcare professional, what do you see working for individuals in poverty in your community? How will you be affected by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare)? aha! Process offers strategies that healthcare providers like you can use to improve healthcare access and create positive outcomes for... View Article

Finding Talent, Hidden Profits: It pays to develop low-wage employees

January 31, 2014 Published by

Do the core constructs from aha! Process’s A Framework for Understanding Poverty and Bridges Out of Poverty apply to business? Absolutely. Cascade Engineering started adopting the work of Framework nearly 15 years ago and others have followed. Utility companies, a frozen food distributor, banks, and hospitals have all employed our... View Article

Educational Impact: Struggling to read no more

October 30, 2008 Published by

If you have a struggling reader and are looking for something with high educational impact but aren’t familiar with Tucker Signing Strategies for Reading, this is the time to take a look.  We’ve had many clients, both educators and parents, e-mail us to tell us about the success they’ve had... View Article

Inspired by our clients: Reducing poverty with Bridges Out of Poverty and Getting Ahead

October 23, 2008 Published by

As you know, aha! Process collaborates with Move the Mountain, an organization dedicated to reducing poverty in our lifetime. Their Circles Initiative uses constructs from Bridges Out of Poverty and Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-by World. This week we received an update from a Circles community, South Central Community Action... View Article

Reducing Poverty Around the World: Ahoj!

October 10, 2008 Published by

Ahoj! (That’s Slovak for “Hello!”) I will be traveling with Phil DeVol to Slovakia later this month to follow up on training requests resulting from Ruby Payne’s visit in May. Ruby’s initial visit to Slovakia was a great success. What we have found is that our strategies for reducing poverty,... View Article