CIRCLES ROUNDUP: New & Good Highlights from Our Network

Photo supplied by Ogden-Weber Community Action Group, showing a group that took part in an earlier Ogden-Weber Community Action Group Circles program. Photographed, from left, are Cylena Bumpers, Samantha DeVroom, Zachary DeVroom, Marina Simmons, Melannie Chee, Rosaline Hester and Alejandra Bernal.

Circles Weber County in Ogden, UT, has become the first chapter to beta-test the new Spanish-translation of the Circles USA Circle Leader curriculum. This cohort of Circle Leaders hails from Venezuela, Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Paraguay, Nicaragua and Honduras.

“We want to build trust in our Spanish-speaking cohort,” said Jordan Barrett, OWCAP’s program manager. OWCAP aims to help those in need and Latinos — some of them immigrants, some native born — make up more than 30% of the population in Ogden.

Read the complete story in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.


Circles Utah Valley (Provo, UT) is one of 80+ chapters taking bold direct action to alleviate poverty, using the Circles Big View model to drive breakthrough solutions for civic engagement. 

In a powerful and emotional Big View meeting, the public joined Circles Utah Valley participants to come listen to two of their Provo Municipal Council members speak and answer questions about housing struggles.

Council member Rachel Whipple spoke of her concern about zoning codes that economically segregate Provo neighborhoods, saying, “That’s not how we make our society better. It’s only as a group, interacting with each other because we need to have affordable housing throughout this city. It shouldn’t only be in my neighborhood just like it shouldn’t only be in yours.”

Read the complete story here.


Who says job pathways can’t begin with play? Circles USA’s children’s programming advances a unique two-generation approach to poverty reduction. 

The Circles Children’s Program at Circles NWA (Northwest Arkansas) recently held another Career and Market Place day. The kids tried out six new careers, including Paleontologist; Marine Biologist; Postal Worker; Artist; Toy Tester; and Entomologist. They then got to use their hard-earned “money” to buy goodies and trinkets at the marketplace!

Learn more about Circles Northwest Arkansas and their children’s programming here.