Informational Materials, Data & Reports

Video/DVD programs available on a "on loan" basis from Making Connections, 282-3561, info@makingconnectionsdm.org.

Waging a Living: Opportunities for Action: DVD and discussion guide. 26-minute program for advocates, practitioners, and policymakers. Profiles three individuals who are members of America’s low-income workforce featured in Roger Weisberg’s full-length documentary “Waging a Living.” Designed to stimulate discussion and motivate audiences to develop strategies and policies that will help low-income working families in their community climb up the economic ladder. Funded by the Ford Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Waging a Living Des Moines 4 Perspectives: DVD and discussion guide. Deals with, the barriers low-wage workers in Des Moines face and the opportunities that have helped them. Features four individuals who serve as “bridges” between the working poor in Making Connections neighborhoods and the community at large, or who, as residents, have grown from their personal story and now mentor to others. They discuss barriers to working out of poverty and offer ideas for ways things can be done differently in the areas of policy, access to affordable health care, better paying jobs, and post-secondary education and vocational training.

The program exposes the difficulty of the working out of poverty and shows ways the Des Moines community can support and enable change. By framing the subject in terms of fairness and opportunity and by demonstrating a pathway to better outcomes, the video encourages people from any viewpoints to participate in the solution-finding process.

United Way's Research, Evaluation, Social Reporting department: Click here for reports.