Residents from Starkville, Tupelo and Vicksburg listen as author and national authority on poverty Philip DeVol explains Bridges Out of Poverty, a program he created based on a book by the same name. Aimed at helping one family at a time get out of poverty, the program has worked throughout the nation. Lynn Phillips-Gaines, seated to the right of DeVol, leads efforts to bring the effort to Oktibbeha County, where one out of three people live in poverty. Hosted by the Mississippi State's Stennis Institute of Government, the group gathered on campus Thursday will help create a steering committee to begin organizing in the area. About a third of the steering committee will include people living in poverty.