Economic mobility programs usually arrive with a plan for parents. Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio starts by believing them.
In this episode of The Stronger Podcast, Mike Montoya sits down with Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, Executive Director of LIFT-DC, to talk about what it takes to break the cycle of poverty. LIFT treats parents as the CEOs of the household and pairs direct cash with financial coaching. Over 90 percent of LIFT's members are women, many of them single mothers, and some arrive holding master's degrees.
Neils traces that conviction to his own K-12 years in the DMV, where he moved six times between kindergarten and ninth grade. A tenth grade counselor told him he could not get into his dream school and gave no reason why. The next year, a different counselor told him he could, and then helped him do it.
He also makes a blunt case about the sector's habit of studying what it already knows. Pilots are supposed to test whether something works, and cash transfers work. LIFT's DC members pushed a local child tax credit into the city budget, then told Neils they were not done, because cash without coaching is only half of it.
Mike and Neils also get into the consulting practice Neils built after friends kept asking him how to start a nonprofit, and the short book he wrote so the answer would fit in an hour. Then there is the comic book habit that has outlasted every job he has held.
Tune in to hear why Neils believes the people closest to the problem are the ones already holding the solution.
Chapters:
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00:50 Meet Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, son of Ghanaian immigrants and lifelong DMV resident
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07:55 Six moves before ninth grade and the teachers who believed in him
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11:11 Parents are the CEOs of the household: LIFT's cash and coaching model
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14:57 Financial coaching rooted in dignity instead of a document checklist
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16:51 Members set the policy agenda: DC's child tax credit fight
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19:35 Pilots are supposed to test what works, and cash transfers already do
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22:34 Turning friends' questions about starting a nonprofit into a short handbook
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26:26 Do not let the idea just stay in your head
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31:12 What comic books taught him about hope and not giving up
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38:05 Society will tell you the problem never gets solved, believe yourself anyway
Links:
Connect with Neils on LinkedIn or explore LIFT's work to learn more about investing in parents through cash, coaching, and policy shaped by the families themselves.
Stay strong.
Episode 42