When children experience poverty, or live below the poverty threshold, it affects them physically, mentally and emotionally. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey, Cincinnati ranked the second highest in the nation with 53.1 percent of children living in poverty. While that percentage has declined in recent years, the rate of child poverty in Cincinnati is still more than 44 percent, which is double the rate of the state and nation.
Here to discuss the child poverty situation in Greater Cincinnati are Executive Director of the Child Poverty Collaborative, Lynn Marmer; Director of Community Affairs for Mayor John Cranley’s office, Bridget Patton; and WCPO.com/WCPO Insider reporter Lucy May, who has written extensively on poverty in the WCPO Digital “Below the Line: Examining Childhood Poverty”series.
The Child Poverty Collaborative will hold a Community Summit, "Taking on Poverty. Together. Improving Children’s Lives," on Saturday, June 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p/m. at the Xavier University Cintas Center. For more information and registration, click here.
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky children and their families can obtain free health screenings, including dental and vision screenings, at the fifth annual HopeFest Health and Education Festival on Saturday, July 9, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine. The health screening and education festival is organized by Consider the Poor and New Life Covenant Cincinnati. For more information call (513) 212-1131 or click here.