Hilton Head anti-poverty program aims to pierce island’s wealth divide by pairing locals

Like other popular resort or tourism-dependent communities, the wealth disparity on Hilton Head Island is vast. The two fastest-growing income brackets in recent years, according to the town’s new workforce housing framework, are those making less than $25,000 and more than $150,000 annually.

A new chapter of a nationally successful anti-poverty program, Circles, may be able to help some families close the earnings gap between low- and high-income islanders.

Its strategy? Start by building relationships between the two groups.

Circles USA is a program with over 80 chapters throughout the U.S. and Canada. The group helps combat poverty by connecting “circle leader” families or individuals living around the poverty line to middle- and upper-income “volunteer” families that typically have more exposure to important community resources and experience with finances, leasing, debt management and other skills.

Over the course of the 18-month program, the families will meet weekly. Through these meetings and cultivation of relationships, the program aims for families in need to increase their income to around 200% above the poverty line for their household size. The poverty line for families of four was $26,500 in 2021.

“What happens when folks across economic lines start to interact and exchange information is barriers are identified, and then they are able to strategize how to eliminate those barriers,” said Shavonne Vazquez, the Hilton Head Circles chapter manager.

With help from the local nonprofit Deep Well Project, Circles will launch its first cohort of families on Hilton Head in January.

“So many times, people who are in poverty — especially if their family has been in poverty for generations — they travel in the same circles with the same people who are also (low-income),” said Sandy Gillis, executive director of the DeepWell project. “They all often have this knowledge gap. They know what they know, based on the people who are around them. Creating these intentional friendships is tremendous for opening up new opportunities.”

Circles’ success is backed by research that suggests children from low-income families who have friendships beyond their family’s income bracket often earn more as adults than those who don’t have cross-class connections.

“Those of us who have grown up in families where people went to college, or (family members) are different kinds of professionals, there’s this osmosis of knowing how to do things, where to go, who to turn to or who to ask for help,” said Diane McMahon, an island resident since 2005 and volunteer for the Circles chapter. “That’s called social currency, and that is what so many people who are at that lower economic ladder just don’t have.”

In many cases, Gillis said, simply interacting regularly with people in a higher income bracket and having someone reliable to ask questions to about finances or education opportunities can help push families out of poverty.

McMahon said volunteers can also help by connecting families to places that offer small business loans to establish more income, finding affordable programs for childcare or reliable transportation, and more.

According to the program’s 2021 impact report, 12.8% of participants reached 200% of the federal poverty line, 32.6% doubled their income and 70% saw “significant gains” to their mean income after 18 months. The program also reported a 36% increase in home ownership among participants.

“If (people in poverty) have a few friends who are not part of their socio-economic background ... their trajectory to get out of poverty is like triple the rate of families who don’t have those kinds of friendships,” Gillis said.

One of the program participants, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was encouraged to join the program after Vazquez visited her workplace and shared information on Circles. The program, she hopes, will help her build a better life for future generations of her family.

“I believe that this program is going to help me and my family in many different ways,” she said. “Financial stability, and really importantly, me growing more as a person and as a mom.”

Can it work on Hilton Head?

A long-time resident, McMahon acknowledged the wealth dynamics on Hilton Head have created issues connecting working-class islanders and wealthier residents before.

As a popular tourist destination that rakes in millions of dollars each year, McMahon said the struggles faced by low-income locals are often unseen behind an idealized vision of Hilton Head.

“I did the 2010 census on Hilton Head. I had never been back into those unincorporated areas behind the airport, where a lot of the heirs property is and where a lot of the infrastructure (and) the sewage systems hadn’t been connected,” McMahon said. “I cannot tell you the number of people who move here or who I have had visit me, and decided to buy a place down here, who never knew any of that area existed.”

Outgoing Mayor John McCann echoed that sentiment in September during a meeting on how the town could help residents of Chimney Cove, one of the few low-income housing options on the island, when they were suddenly issued eviction notices in August. The evictions were later rescinded, but would’ve displaced around 300 people.

“There’s still a lot of people that are hungry ... there’s still a lot of homeless people. We don’t even talk about those things,” McCann said at the Sept. 6 meeting. “We don’t talk about anything that makes us uncomfortable. We talk about Chimney Cove because it’s in the paper.”

The physical separation between rich and poor the island’s prevalent gated communities create is another manifestation of that divide, McMahon said. With the need for workforce housing brought to the forefront by Chimney Cove, however, she said she’s hopeful residents will receive the program positively and potentially offer their support.

“That (housing) issue, which is now beginning to impact the services and the amenities that people move here for, means it’s not so invisible anymore,” McMahon said. “I think that even though there might be some goodwill toward wanting to help people who are less fortunate, it is a hugely polarized society.”

But since many islanders have been financially successful in their careers, Gillis is optimistic the program’s families will succeed as well.

“We have amazing people that have all of this knowledge, and are hungry to share that knowledge. They may be wealthy now, but some weren’t always, and they remember what it was like to not know ‘where’s my next meal coming from,’” Gillis said. “It’s really remarkable how many wealthy people on Hilton Head are very much self-made people, and they’re at that point in their life where ... they can say, ‘I remember the people who helped me, it’s my turn to be the helper.’”

Vazquez said she’s similarly hopeful that volunteers who sign up for Circles will have their perspective about people living in or near poverty changed.

So far, Vazquez said the program has 13 families enrolled, including 19 adults and 28 children. It’s also pulled in 60 volunteers.

The program is accepting applications from volunteers and leader families until Dec. 15. The program is open to anyone who lives on the island and meets income requirements, but Bluffton residents have also joined as long as they are available for weekly meetings on Hilton Head.

Gillis said anyone interested should email circles@deepwellproject.org to apply.

“If we are going to try to support these folks who already live and work on the island, what better way to build them up than to meet them where they are, break bread with them, have conversations, get to know them?” Vazquez said. “They don’t (normally) hang out at the same places, for God’s sake, they can’t even drive down some of the same roads in gated private communities.”