Authors launch website for poverty-reduction framework

Two authors have launched Together We Climb, a new website tied to an upcoming book on helping families move from generational poverty to financial self-sufficiency. The site lays out a four-stage model, shares personal stories and points readers to ways to support the effort.

Why it matters: - The website adds a public-facing hub for a poverty-reduction model the authors say can help families move from crisis to stability and then to wealth-building. - The effort targets a long-running problem in the U.S.: systems that often manage poverty instead of ending it. - The framework is designed to connect education, jobs and benefits into a single path toward financial self-sufficiency.

What happened: - Dr. Steven C. Taylor and Jason Janz launched Together We Climb, a new website tied to their upcoming book, “Together We Climb: A Community-Driven Approach to Break the Cycle of Poverty and Build Prosperity.” - The site explains their approach to attacking poverty, shares real-life stories of people helped and includes ways others can support the cause. - The launch was announced Sept. 2, 2026, from Denver.

The details: - The “Together We Climb” model uses a mountain-climbing metaphor to describe movement from generational poverty to generational wealth. - The first stage, Essential Needs, covers housing, basic needs and support that can keep one crisis from derailing progress. - The second stage, Education, focuses on credentials, skills and aptitudes needed to earn a living wage. - The third stage, Employment, connects people to quality jobs with stable hours, benefits, fair wages and room for advancement. - The fourth stage, Economic Empowerment, moves families from earning income to building wealth through homeownership, business creation, retirement savings and greater personal agency. - Janz said the final stage matters because some families have spent multiple generations in poverty without access to college or homeownership. - Taylor said poverty has too often been treated as something to manage rather than end. - Taylor said the current system fails families by creating disconnected public benefits and an education model that measures success by enrollment instead of outcomes. - Taylor said new education experiences should connect people directly to labor-market pathways while public benefits support, rather than block, that progress. - Taylor’s background includes being the first in his family to graduate from college, serving as a college administrator, and earning appointments to Virginia’s State Council of Higher Education and a U.S. Department of Education advisory committee. - Janz is a first-generation college graduate who grew up in poverty and later founded CrossPurpose, a Denver nonprofit focused on moving adults from generational poverty to financial self-sufficiency. - CrossPurpose has trained more than 1,200 Denver residents for full-time careers. - CrossPurpose received $1.86 million in state funding last year for pre-apprenticeship and certification programs. - Taylor founded ED2WORK in 2019 to work with states, companies and nonprofits on education and skills pathways for adult and working learners.

Between the lines: - The launch positions the book and website as part of a broader advocacy effort, not just a publishing project. - The authors are framing poverty as a solvable systems problem that requires coordinated action from policymakers, educators and community leaders. - Their message blends personal experience, nonprofit practice and policy expertise to argue for a more integrated approach.

What’s next: - The website is set up to serve as a resource for readers, supporters and organizations interested in the model. - Taylor and Janz are pushing for broader adoption of their framework through the book’s message and related outreach. - Janz said lasting change will require a generation of leaders willing to walk with people long enough to see them move from survival to future-building.

The bottom line: - Taylor and Janz are betting that a clearer, stage-by-stage pathway can help communities move beyond poverty management and toward lasting financial mobility.