Community Child Poverty Summit Saturday


Nearly half of all children living in the city of Cincinnati live in impoverished families. Over 33,000 children in Cincinnati and nearly 55,000 children in Hamilton County live in households with income below the federal poverty line.
 
On Saturday, Oct. 29 Cincinnatians will gather for the Child Poverty Collaborative's second community summit to better understand poverty in the community and co-create community commitments for action.

All members of the community are invited to the free event from 8:30am to noon at the Duke Energy Center in downtown Cincinnati.
 
The Child Poverty Collaborative has held more than 75 conversations across the city, in places of worship, around picnic tables and in board rooms.  In addition local data collected by Rand, the Urban League, Community Action Agency, Partners for a Competi
Key Facts

•33,000 Cincinnati children in Cincinnati ive in families with income below the federal poverty line.

•Countywide, nearly 55,000 children are living in poverty.
 
•Cincinnati’s 2013 teen birth rate was 43.3 births per 1,000 teen girls, much higher the U.S. national average of 26.6 births per 1,000 teen girls.
 
•31 percent of white children and 69 percent of African American children who are poor at birth go on to spend at least half their childhoods living in poverty.
 
• 63 percent of CPS students are African American, and 73 percent come from economically disadvantaged families.

•Though African Americans make up only 12.5 percent of Ohio’s population, they make up 45 percent of Ohio’s incarcerated population.
tive workforce and others have been studied.
 

Surprising study findings


At the October summit, key learnings from the community conversations and the data studies will be shared with all. Some of the data, including some unique challenges faced by Cincinnati families, may be a surprise.
 
"We promised to listen to the community and we have,” said Lynn Marmer, CPC Executive Director, "Now it is time to gather together again, to learn and to co-create some pathways forward."
 
A combination of commitments by the Child Poverty Collaborative and recommendations for community action will be shared. "Poverty is a complex system and families in poverty have to navigate many challenges, including inadequate transportation, inflexible and expensive child care, and jobs that do not provide upward mobility in wages," explained Marmer. "It will take everyone inthe community, working together to break down the barriers that hold back families.
 
The doors open at 8:15 a.m.. Free breakfast and child care will be provided and parking will be validated in designated garages adjacent to the Convention Center. The Child Poverty Collaborative website has a map.
 
Register free  online.

About the Child Poverty Collaborative:
The Child Poverty Collaborative is broad based community effort by leaders from government, business, civil society, faith-based organizations, and concerned citizens who are committed to co-creating solutions that significantly reduce the number of children living in poverty in our community. The Collaborative’s goal is to move 5,000 families and 10,000 children out of poverty in five years.
 

 
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Read more articles by Pamela Fisher.

Pamela Fisher is the editor of Soapbox Cincinnati. Journalism professor, newspaper editor in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Storytelling coach USA Today network. M.A. Miami University, nonfiction. Twitter: @pfishh