Limited Resource Audiences

A person's resources may include many things besides money. There are also emotional (the stamina to keep going when things are hard/avoid engaging in destructive behaviors), mental (ability to deal with daily life), spiritual (faith, sense of community), and physical (mobility that allows one to be self sufficient and take care of themselves and their family) resources.
Those who are limited in some or all of these resources may be difficult to reach with normal educational techniques. For example, long term planning is not something that is commonly used by this group. This is because they are used to survival tactics which force them to do whatever is needed at the moment. Therefore, it is more effective to focus on the now and use short term goal setting, and avoid talking about the implications which could occur the long term future. Only "need to know" information should be given, rather than "nice to know".
When working with this population it is important to recognize the fact that there may be a sense of failure related to education. Many may not have completed school and will see anything "school like" as a challenge that is too big for them to handle. Therefore "classes" should be kept very casual and held in familiar surroundings (community centers, or other places participants frequent). They should be fun and include games/activities to keep participants interested. Activities should be achievable in order to preserve participants self esteem.