Pathways to Getting Ahead

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Introduction

What you can learn from this booklet
This booklet is about making choices that can move you along the path toward the economic future you want for yourself. It's also about increasing the chances that you attain the future you choose to seek. Making the best choices and increasing your chances aren't easy. So you need to know what pathways lead from where you are to where you want to be. You need to know about ways to get on the path you pick, how to stay on it, and how to move ahead on it. This booklet offers you that kind of information.

This information is about "assets" you can build. Assets are the capacities and resources that people need to succeed in today's economy. They include the following:

• Knowledge, skills, and experience that you need to get a job and move up.
  
• Jobs and the benefits they give you beyond that very important paycheck, and also resources that boost your income when your earnings fall short or jobs aren't available.
  
• Financial resources, such as money in the bank or other kinds of savings and investments such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. These resources can get you through a personal emergency or crisis, help you become a home owner, start a business, pay your way through school, or make life in your later years that much more comfortable.

In many ways, having a real chance at success is about what you can and should do for yourself in each of these key asset areas. But, people usually do not build assets by their own efforts only. People know that they need to join together, as a community, to provide help for one another in different kinds of ways. For example, they participate in local community and neighborhood organizations to build a safer and more livable and prosperous community. They also act as responsible citizens by educating themselves and thinking about public policies that can make a difference. As you will see, the larger community provides many of the resources that can help you move along your path. As much as we have already done as a community, there is more that we can do to help one another succeed.

How to use this booklet
This booklet is divided into three sections. Each describes pathways you can take to increase your capacity and resources and thereby build your assets. The sections cover these areas:

• Knowledge and Skills: Where the Path Begins
  Getting the knowledge, skills, and experience you need for a good job
  
• Jobs Plus: A Path to More Than a Paycheck
  Finding a job, getting the most out of a job, and getting by when your earnings are limited
  
• Savings and Investments: Advancing Along the Path
  Setting money aside and building a nest egg for future financial security

Each section will tell you why building that kind of asset is important to your choices about the future and your chances of success. Each section begins with information about what it takes to get started on the path to building that kind of asset. It then offers additional information about how to stay on that path. You may have questions or want to learn more about what you can do. You can find out about how to connect - in person, by phone, or through the Internet - with others who can help make things happen for you. Most importantly, you will learn about financial and other resources that could make a real difference to your getting a start. You will find out about people and organizations ready to give you advice and support in moving ahead.

The gray shaded portions of each section feature "ways to broaden the path." Why is this important? Despite the many resources that are available to you, you and others may not have enough resources or the right kind that you need. To do something about this, you can learn about choices that we, as a community, have and what we must do to make the best choice. The next step is up to you. You might share with others what you have learned and decide upon what action to take. That action could include participating in discussions about the issues and ways to deal with them as a member of your community and a citizen. If you do, you will help yourself and others have a better chance at gaining a share of a bright economic future.

Moving ahead
Deciding what next step to take won't always be simple or easy. Making it successfully won't always be quick. But use the know-how this book offers and start yourself on the path to a brighter economic future by seeking out the resources that are out there for you. If you do, you will be better prepared and more confident in making your way. Good luck!

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