Climb

The mission of Climb Wyoming is for low-income single mothers to discover self-sufficiency through career training and placement. The goal of every Climb Program is to ensure that participants receive the training and skills necessary to enter higher paying careers and to succeed long term in all aspects of their lives. The primary program objectives are that graduates are trained and placed in high quality jobs, increase their incomes to livable wages, reduce dependence on government benefits, and learn the skills needed for successful relationships at home and at work. For job placement, Climb Wyoming's goal is to specifically target higher paying occupations that meet local workforce needs. Climb is also committed to collaboration and measuring outcomes for the purposes of analysis, gauging effectiveness, and program improvement.

Currently Climb Wyoming offers job skills and work readiness training in a variety of industries that have been identified by Climb as having workforce needs, and paying livable wages to employees. These industries include office careers, medical careers, health information technology, warehouse inventory technician, certified nursing assistants, welding, and truck driving.

The Climb Program is comprised of the following components:
• Job Skills and Work Readiness Training – Designed to develop the skills necessary for participants to seek, obtain, and maintain stable, long-term careers in high-demand occupations.
• Life Skills – Topics at these sessions include financial literacy, parenting skills, healthy and safe relationships, child support, food and nutrition, family planning and more.
• Comprehensive Mental Health Services – Each participant undergoes a comprehensive mental health assessment that is aligned with current best practices. Mental health providers then provide appropriate treatment through individual counseling, group counseling and referrals.
• Advocacy – Climb staff members advocate on behalf of Climb participants and connect participants with community support services to meet their individual needs.
• Job Placement – Climb staff members work closely with local businesses to place participants in suitable jobs. Employers are reimbursed for wages during this early critical period.
• Ongoing Support – Post-program, Climb staff members meet with participants to support both their success in the workplace and their family stability.

Climb Wyoming understands that successfully moving our target population out of poverty takes much more than job training. The Climb Wyoming Program Model incorporates not only the components necessary to help low-income single mothers move toward self-sufficiency through job training and placement, but also incorporates services that extend well beyond these job-related components.

Our mental-health based program is like no other job training organization and includes group and individual counseling, life skills training, parenting skills training, financial education and peer group support. In offering these comprehensive services, we better prepare our participants for long-term success in the workplace, in their communities and in their families. This combination of services allows the single mothers we serve to overcome their personal barriers to success and make permanent life changes for themselves and their children.

The comprehensive Climb program requires a significant investment in each of our participants in order to provide them with the specialized training and mental health services that are the key elements of our success in transitioning our participants to self sufficiency.

Since 1986, Climb has impacted 10,000 families and 20,000 children across the state, serving all 23 counties. The unique Climb program model has produced consistently successful outcomes. Below are some awards and accolades:

In 2012, Climb Wyoming was recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as one of the top 10 best programs helping to move people out of poverty and joined government officials in Washington DC to explore best practices in evidence-based implementation.

In 2015, Climb was recognized as a “Promising Program" by the Center for the Study of Social Policy in a report highlighting innovative strategies for serving the unique needs of young children and their families in rural areas through a multi-generational approach.

In 2016, after researching over 200 organizations, the Institute for Women's Policy Research selected Climb as one of eight programs across the country that are “using innovative approaches to address key unmet needs among job training participants that could provide useful models for providing services cost effectively."

In 2017, Climb founder and executive director Ray Fleming Dinneen was tapped by The U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty for her expertise and insight. She joined 30 leading practitioners and policymakers from across the country at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, in an invite-only discussion on implementing and scaling ideas to substantially increase mobility from poverty in the United States.

In 2018, Climb was honored to have U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue visit our Cheyenne program as part of his “Back to Our Roots” national tour. In particular, Perdue was interested in how Climb Wyoming graduates transition off public assistance when they find stable careers, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that his agency administers.

In 2019, Climb was recognized by the Wyoming Counseling Association (WCA). WCA, through its Garth Shanklin Exemplary Practices Award, recognizes agencies and programs which best exemplify the mission of WCA.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected Climb for a comprehensive TANF case study along with a select few other innovative employment and training programs in the country serving low-income individuals. From this study, information regarding successful strategies was shared with other agencies and policymakers helping groups across the country be more effective at breaking the generational cycle of poverty.

In 2021, Dr. Ray Fleming Dinneen was inducted into the Wyoming Business Hall of Fame, which “recognizes business and industry leaders who have demonstrated substantial business merit while making a virtuous impact on their community.”

In 2022, Katie Hogarty was selected to The Wyoming Workforce Development Council (WWDC), a board of leaders from around the state who are hand-selected by the governor to help with statewide workforce development.