Bringing Hope to Those Living in Poverty

Empower people with sustainable solutions to help them have a better life

Lighting the Path creates sustainable solutions to alleviate poverty and enrich lives.  We believe every person should be honored for their value and loved irregardless of their race, faith, gender, status, customs, lifestyle, abilities or history.  We believe that if we are to ever help alleviate poverty we must empower those we are serving to help them be part of the solution. It has been proven that poverty is one of the biggest barriers to receiving an education, having good health, and income earning opportunities.  Education, skill and business training, start up supplies, and micro-finance are some the ways we offer assistance to economically empower marginalized populations.

The core steps we believe should be considered in providing effective sustainable solutions that will benefit individuals for a lifetime start with, first and most importantly, listening to what they state they need.  We then evaluate the available resources and skills along with training and education needs and develop empowerment programs to teach valuable skills to assist them in starting their own small enterprise. All this is done while maintaining cultural diversity and dignity. Our multifaceted approach promotes education and financial stability of individuals, families, and communities while building self-worth and self reliance. 

Many immigrant and refugee women come to the United States from living years in refugee camps with little education or work experience.  They struggle with language and how to build a life in a frightening new country where they do not know how to begin or where to even start.  We try to assist with building confidence and walking them through the path of building a life.  We often let them choose a skill they are comfortable with such as cooking or sewing and build a small business model with this in mind for earning an income to help their families.  We work with inner city and marginalized populations in our region using this model also.

According to the World Bank Poverty report 42% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.90 a day which is the international extreme poverty line.  Fifty nine million children in these countries do not attend school and work to help their families survive.  In Burkina Faso this extreme poverty rate is 72% of the population with half of this group being children.   Sub- Saharan Africa has the highest infant mortality rate in the world.  For those born in Sub-Saharan Africa the life expectancy is 46 years with one in eleven children dying before their fifth birthday.  Thirty percent of the children are malnourished to the point of stunted growth and impaired development.    

Women and girls are undervalued and under served in these countries with minimal rights.  Our efforts focus on bringing value to women and girls, offering education and empowering them to earn a wage to raise their family’s standard of living.  Building self confidence and self esteem give these women and girls the motivation to work on changing their lives and they see that they can accomplish great things!

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner must be treated as your native born. Love then as yourself, for you were foreigners  Leviticus 19:33-34