How do we build stronger communities when our experiences of poverty and privilege can be so different?
What if the key to addressing poverty begins with changing how we relate to one another?
Poverty and privilege shape how we move through the world, what we expect from one another, and how we understand our place in community. Yet conversations about social-economic class are often missing from our efforts to build more equitable, connected communities.
Bridging Poverty & Privilege is a six-module online course developed by Bedford House, a community-based nonprofit that grew out of a partnership with Greenwood United Church. Offered nationally through ChurchX platform as a self-study course and shaped by the lived experience and leadership of people who have navigated poverty, the course draws on Bedford House’s eight years of building authentic relationships across class lines.
Through engaging video conversations, personal stories, and reflective learning, participants will explore:
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How social-economic class shapes our perspectives, values, and assumptions
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Why traditional approaches to “helping” can sometimes unintentionally cause harm
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The systemic realities that contribute to poverty
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Practical tools for building trust, mutuality, and belonging across economic differences
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How communities and organizations can move beyond charity toward genuine relationship
Rather than focusing on poverty as a problem to solve, this course asks a different question:
How do we become neighbours to one another across social and economic differences?
Grounded in dignity, curiosity, and mutual learning, Bridging Poverty & Privilege is ideal for community members, volunteers, faith communities, nonprofit leaders, social service workers, community educators, and anyone who wants to better understand the role class plays in our lives and relationships.
Rather than offering simple answers, this course invites participants to explore the assumptions, fears, and barriers that can keep us divided—and discover practical ways to build genuine relationships rooted in dignity, curiosity, and mutual learning.
Whether you complete the course on your own or with a group, you’ll leave with practical insights and a renewed vision for creating communities where everyone has something to teach and something to learn.
Learn more and register today.
We hope you’ll join us.