Elevating Families is an evidence-based economic mobility program where trained professionals, known as Mobility Mentors, partner with parents and caregivers to identify, set, and achieve goals that lead to greater stability for themselves and their families.
At its simplest, the program exists to help families move toward economic sustainability. But for those who participate, sustainability means much more than earning a higher income or checking a box on a list of accomplishments. It means creating a life where they have the freedom, confidence, and stability to make choices for themselves and their children.
This philosophy is what makes Elevating Families different. The program is built on the nationally recognized Mobility Mentoring® model developed by Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath), a researchbacked approach grounded in the belief that every person is the expert in their own life. Rather than prescribing solutions or defining success on someone else’s behalf, Mobility Mentors walk alongside participants as partners. They ask questions, help break large goals into achievable steps, celebrate progress, and provide encouragement when setbacks inevitably occur. The participant, not the mentor, is always in the driver’s seat.
That same philosophy extends to our ongoing research partnership with LEO. While research studies often focus on statistics, outcomes, and data points, our team never loses sight of what matters most: every data point represents a real person with unique experiences, hopes, and challenges.
The purpose of our study is not simply to prove that the program works. It is to better understand how families experience economic mobility so that we can serve parents more effectively in the future. Our participants are not subjects of research; they are partners in helping shape a stronger, more compassionate approach to supporting families.
Participation in the study is entirely voluntary, and throughout the process we strive to ensure that each parent feels respected, heard, and valued. Trust, autonomy, and dignity are the core principles that guide both our mentoring relationships and our research practices. We recognize that every family defines success differently, and we intentionally create space for participants to determine what progress means for them.
For some, success may be earning a certificate or securing a higher-paying job. For others, it begins with something much smaller, but no less significant.
One participant’s journey illustrates this beautifully. When Suzie earned her driver’s license at the age of thirty, some people might have viewed it as simply accomplishing something long overdue. But to Suzie, it represented a profound turning point. For years, a lack of reliable transportation had been one of the barriers keeping her trapped in an abusive relationship. Without the ability to drive, leaving safely felt impossible. Obtaining her driver’s license gave her much more than the ability to operate a vehicle. It gave her freedom, confidence, and independence. Most importantly, it opened the door to creating a safer life for herself and her children.
That goal may not appear extraordinary on paper. Yet for Suzie, it was the foundation upon which every future goal could be built.
Stories like hers remind us that transformation rarely happens in one dramatic moment. It happens through hundreds of small victories that, over time, reshape a person’s confidence and belief in what is possible. This is why Elevating Families never measures participants against a universal definition of success. A driver’s license, a completed GED, stable housing, opening a savings account, finding meaningful employment, or simply learning to believe in one’s own ability to overcome obstacles—each achievement represents an important step forward because it was chosen by the participants themselves.
Our role is not to determine which goals matter most. Our role is to honor the goals that matter most to the individual.
That commitment to participant autonomy is at the heart of everything we do. Mobility Mentors use evidencebased coaching techniques, including motivational interviewing and the Bridge to Self-Sufficiency®, to help participants identify priorities across five areas of life: family stability, well-being, financial management, education and training, and employment and career. Together, the mentor and participant develop realistic, meaningful goals that reflect each family’s unique circumstances and aspirations.
Along the way, mentors provide encouragement, accountability, and practical support, but they never take ownership of the participant’s journey. Success belongs entirely to the individual who has done the difficult work of changing their life.
Perhaps the greatest lesson our team has learned through Elevating Families is that dignity is not something we give to participants. Dignity already belongs to them.