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Ask ten people how poverty is defined in America and you will get ten different lines. The federal government has one number. United Way has another. MIT has a third. Jason Janz and Amy Hulst start here, because before you can fix a problem you have to agree on what it actually is.

This episode of From Poverty to Prosperity: Redefining Wealth and Opportunity in America from CrossPurpose looks past the poverty statistics in the United States that make headlines and into the numbers that describe real people. Four out of ten Americans fall below the poverty line or into ALICE, the working poor who earn just enough to miss every form of help and still cannot get ahead. Jason tells the story of offering new CrossPurpose students cash to walk out of class on their first day, and what that dare taught him about who was ready to change.

Amy pushes further and asks whether poverty is a personal failure, a broken system, or something the whole community owns. Jason reads a line a student wrote when asked what poverty feels like, and it lands harder than any statistic. From there the two trace what actually causes poverty in America beyond a missing paycheck, the relational and spiritual toll that keeps families stuck, and the lost Einsteins Jason sees in every classroom he visits.

Listen to hear the definition CrossPurpose builds its whole mission around.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Why poverty is America's number one problem

03:25 How poverty is defined in America

05:29 Meet ALICE, four out of ten Americans

06:45 Why basing public aid on poverty lines is deceptive

08:53 Bad choices, broken system, or the rich

11:15 Poverty beyond money, relational and spiritual

16:19 Where Jason finds hope to keep climbing

Connect with CrossPurpose:

Visit the CrossPurpose website 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Most conversations about poverty stop at meeting basic needs. Food, clothing, and a place to sleep are treated as the finish line, not the starting point. Jason Janz says that stopping point traps neighbors instead of helping them climb higher toward real prosperity.

Jason Janz, Co-Founder and CEO of CrossPurpose, joins co-host Amy Hulst on From Poverty to Prosperity: Redefining Wealth and Opportunity in America to unpack the poverty framework built from fourteen years spent walking alongside neighbors in Denver. They call it the Mountain Model, four steps that move a person from meeting basic needs all the way up to economic empowerment.

Jason names the difference between a job and a good job, and explains why that distinction shapes real career development and long term wealth. He describes why navigation, the relational work of walking someone up the mountain, rarely gets the funding it deserves. He also breaks down three roles sectors working on the mountain at once - nichers, negotiators, and navigators - and why communities need all three for upward economic mobility.

This poverty framework, the Mountain Model poverty alleviation strategy behind CrossPurpose, works by breaking the cycle of poverty one neighbor and one relationship at a time. Listen to hear why owning the pond, not just catching the fish, is the real goal of the climb.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Introducing the Mountain Model poverty framework

02:37 Mapping the four steps up the mountain

04:02 The 1.7 percent myth about who is poor

06:17 Nichers, negotiators, and navigators explained

08:30 Three sectors and the case for working together

14:02 Four ways anyone can build navigation capacity

16:19 Owning the pond and paying it forward

Connect with CrossPurpose:

Visit the CrossPurpose website

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Jason Janz, Co-Founder and CEO of CrossPurpose, a faith based poverty nonprofit in Denver, grew up in poverty himself before moving his family into Denver's Five Points neighborhood, where he helped build the career training nonprofit from the ground up.  Since then, CrossPurpose has helped over 1,700 graduate students and more than 2,800 family members move out of poverty through their truly transformational approach to America’s biggest problem.

Jason shares the early mistake that nearly sank CrossPurpose, an intervention too small for the size of the problem it was meant to solve. He traces how economic mobility took root in Denver and breaks down the three kinds of poverty his team works to end. Money, he says, connects to a deeper idea, “poverty is a lack of choice and power”. In his own living room, one neighbor turned down his help altogether, ashamed of the debt she was hiding, only to change her mind months later.

Press play to hear how CrossPurpose started in Denver, one relationship at a time, and grew into a nonprofit that ends generational poverty. 

Episode Breakdown:

00:07 Welcome to From Poverty to Prosperity

01:03 Jason's Childhood in Poverty and Move to Denver

06:03 How CrossPurpose Started With Tiffany

09:39 Why Poverty Is Really About Power and Choice

15:02 The Early Mistake That Nearly Sank the Model

17:17 Economic, Spiritual, and Relational Poverty Explained

20:05 Why Jason and Amy Started This Podcast

Connect with CrossPurpose:

Visit the CrossPurpose website 

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

From Poverty to Prosperity is a podcast about what keeps people in poverty in America–and what it takes to break free. Hosted by Jason Janz, CEO of Denver-based career development nonprofit CrossPurpose, and Amy Hulst, each episode challenges conventional thinking about poverty and economic mobility with direct, unscripted conversations.

Every episode brings together nonprofit leaders, researchers, policymakers, and, most importantly, people with lived experiences with poverty. Together, they explore what it takes to meet the American Dream–from meeting basic needs, to gaining the skills for a meaningful career, to building lasting economic stability and true economic empowerment.

Through conversations about topics like affordable housing, workforce development, federal poverty guidelines, and more, the show highlights the practical solutions driving real transformation—and the people doing the work to make it possible.

Produced by CrossPurpose, a nonprofit that has served nearly 9,000 people in Colorado on their journey toward stable careers and lasting economic stability, the show draws on more than a decade of frontline experience. Whether you lead a nonprofit, shape policy, or simply want to understand what helps people move from poverty to prosperity, you'll find the research, the stories, and the models that work. New episodes release regularly—subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.