Leadership Development Spotlight: Meet Rebecca Price of Circles Davis County
- Circles USA
- 8 hours ago
- 7 min read
At Circles, we know that leadership is more than a natural talent or a paid professional role. It’s the cumulative process of weaving each setback and success we meet into a consistent, goal-focused practice that benefits the whole collective. The more deeply we root our identity in service to our families, chapters, and communities, the more we distinguish ourselves as leaders within these groups striving to move from surviving to thriving.
Circles USA’s new Leadership Development Spotlight series spotlights graduated Circle Leaders who have stepped into challenging service roles at the chapter, regional, and even national levels. Among the most skilled, dedicated participants in the Circles network, these big-L Leaders’ stories offer insights and hard-won lessons guaranteed to inspire us all in our shared mission of building community to end poverty.
Good morning! Will you share your name, where you’re based, and the work you do with Circles?
I’m Rebecca Price, Coach for Circles Davis County in Utah.
Rebecca, how did you become involved with Circles?
I was eight months pregnant and I was homeless. I went through Open Doors Rapid Rehousing Program, and they talked to me about Circles. I decided that I wanted to try it out just because I knew that where my life was, and how it was going, wasn't something that I wanted. Or something I wanted for my kids. So I went to Circles, and that was, I think, in March…10 years ago. March of 2015 is when I started Circles. My son was one month old [by then].
I'm an introvert and I don't trust people. So when I first started, me and my kids were, like, huddled into one little table. We were meeting at a school at that time, and we'd huddle and eat our dinner at the table, and they're like, “All right, kids are gonna go.” And I was like, “What?!” But that's how I started getting involved!
So you actually just had an anniversary with the organization… Happy 10 years. That's a big milestone.
Yes. We did a 10 year celebration—like, a ceremony. It was pretty cool.
When you think back and look at yourself and your family at that time, what were your goals?
This is somewhat emotional…I wasn't happy with a lot of things because of trauma and stuff like that. I wasn't happy. I grew up upper middle class; we didn't get new neighbors every six months, every year; because when you live in a neighborhood, people don't just up and leave all the time. [Now] I was having to make sure that neighbors were safe people for my kids to be around.
So my main goal was to buy a house. I didn't care what kind of house. I didn't care where it was. I just wanted something stable for my kids. When I was pregnant and homeless, it wasn't my first time being homeless. I have two older kids, my two daughters. I think they were two and four. We lived out of my car for six months during the wintertime. So I never wanted my kids to feel like they had nowhere to go, no one to turn to, if they ever had those situations come up. My goal was to make sure that we had a home, and then that we had a healthy relationship—that I was able to provide for them and help them if they needed help.
10 years later, how have those goals evolved and changed with your changing roles in Circles?
My goals have changed. All of my [old] goals have been met, so I guess we're searching for new goals. We do live in a home, and I want to say it's in reach of me owning it. We’d moved in with my mom when my grandma passed away, and she paid off her house. Now, having our own home in a stable environment came with a lot of work. Leaving my abusive ex-husband was one of the biggest things, because you can't grow if there's somebody literally, like, holding you down. For financial goals and stuff like that, it would be nice to rebuild my credit. I was getting [wages] garnished for a while. So I have to rebuild my credit so I can get the home loan to pay for the house.
My oldest daughter is 18. We've gone through struggles, we've gone through growth. She graduated high school early, which is amazing. And she's done all this awesome stuff; but also, she went through a phase where she was like: “As soon as I hit 18, I'm leaving the house! You're the problem!” I think any mom that has teenagers probably has some kind of similar story, right? Then she's like, “Uh, is it okay if I don't leave?” And I was like, “Well, of course, baby.” For me, it was just showing up and being there… just being a constant when, realistically, mental health was down the drain. We're still finding the fine line of making sure everything's taken care of and our mental health is good. Trying to figure out things so I can be better for them. My goal now is to make sure my kids are set up. And it would be amazing if I can get to the point where I can set grandkids up; I would like to put aside three other mutual funds for grandkids. With some help from my family, we've opened up a mutual fund for my daughters. And this is going to set them up for when they hit 30 and want to buy a house, or if they just want to save it, and then they want to retire at the age of 50. Or just retire whenever they're wanting to be done with work, to live life comfortably so they're not ever struggling. It's just putting money every month into that mutual fund, and I have to start one for my son, too. It would be awesome if I can take $25 a month. Yeah, my goal now is just setting my kids and hopefully my future kids, or grandkids, up for success.
Getting your life together does take time. My kids have not had the easiest life. But they are doing good. And they're finding joy in stuff, they're learning to set their own goals. And they're going to chill at the house until they are ready. And I told them, “When you guys are ready to move out, I want this for you guys: You have to have a stable job, something that pays a living wage. While you're living here, I want you to buy a car. Don’t finance a car; buy a car outright. This way you don't have to worry about car payments. And this way, you're living within your means.” I'm like, “If we can get at least $5,000 to $10,000 set aside for an emergency fund, if you guys lose your job—or if something happens—you still have money to keep going.”
They both agreed to it. And I was like, “Cool!” So we're already getting off on a better foot than I was when I hit 18.
In Circles... you have somebody that will sit there and be in your darkness with you. And then you have people that'll give you advice and try and help you. They'll open up those windows so the light shines through, so you're not always by yourself.
So, if a newer Circle Leader were doubting themselves, or their ability to hang in for the long haul the way that you have…what would you say to them?
There's a reason why you're here, there's a reason why you were drawn to this program. Follow your heart, never give up, always have hope. The things that you learn in Circles is stuff that a lot of people don't learn, and you take them everywhere you go. Like New and Goods: always looking at the positive, changing that mindset. The things that I’ve learned in Circles, when I was literally broken, have changed my life.
There's so much to Circles besides just finances. At least for Circles Davis County there is. And I believe that, for the most part, everybody I've talked to agrees. There's so much more to Circles than just learning to survive. Right? We want you to thrive. You're going to find yourself in low places where you don't know where to turn and you feel like you have no one. A lot of people feel like that. But in Circles, you have those people to turn to. You have a listening ear, you have a shoulder to cry on. You have somebody that will sit there and, you know, be in your darkness with you. And then you have people that'll give you advice and try and help you. They'll open up those windows so the light shines through, so you're not always by yourself. One of the biggest things that I loved about Circles is because, in what I felt was my darkest moments, the people in Circles helped me through it.
There was a time that—well, I didn’t take a break, but my work wouldn't allow me to come to Circles. And it was hard, not being able to talk to the people that I looked forward to seeing every Thursday. When you don't get to have that personal, one-on-one or face-to-face contact, it is hard. Because [they’re] just like the family that you should have had growing up.
I think that you named a number of really important things there. This idea of recovery mindset, a found family, the New and Goods… we don't do that once a year.
We do it once a week. Right. That's how we open the meetings. Well, and it’s training yourself to do it on more of a daily basis. I didn't have a good marriage. My marriage was a solid negative experience. But New and Goods in my day-to-day, just to survive, just to get through that day… Let's look at something positive! Kids are waking up, they're healthy. High five, we're winning! New and Goods help you if you put it to use on a daily basis. Like, your car breaks down, man, that stinks. But it didn't break down on the freeway in the hot sun. It broke down at work, so I have, you know, an A/C place that I can go into; I can figure this out. There's always light somewhere, and those New and Goods have helped me to find everything that is good in my day.
Read the other installments in our Leadership Development Spotlight series:
Building Community to End Poverty in 25 States
