New approaches to fighting poverty in Ohio worth keeping an eye on

Research continues to point to the correlation between socioeconomic status and educational outcomes. Three new initiatives in the Buckeye State are cause for cautious optimism that old methods of addressing poverty may be giving way to innovation and new promise, especially for our youngest citizens.

• Founded by Hillbilly Elegy author and Ohio native J.D. Vance, Our Ohio Renewal is a bold new initiative that will explore statewide policy solutions to intractable problems plaguing poor families. Vance’s upbringing included divorce, drug abuse, violence, and multi-generational poverty. Yet his rise through the Marine Corps, The Ohio State University, and Yale Law School against long odds challenge the notion that demography is destiny and will undoubtedly inform his work on behalf of families.
• The Family Independence Initiative takes a city-centric approach to disrupting the cycle of poverty for families. The brainchild of Mauricio Lim Miller, this initiative steps away from the traditional service provider role and instead takes on a coaching role for poor families – families like the one in which he grew up. “…[M]y mother figured out how to get me out of poverty,” Lim Miller said in a recent New York Times profile of his life and work, “and I think other mothers, fathers and guardians might also have ideas about how to get their lives together. I would ask them to show us how to build their lives.” Already active in a dozen cities nationwide, the Family Independence Institute landed in Cincinnati in early August with strong local support and seems poised to make a huge difference there.
• MOVE to Prosper is a homegrown initiative in central Ohio with a simple plan: provide funds and supports help interested low-income families to move out of under-resourced neighborhoods and into areas of greater stability and opportunity. The migration pattern of city to suburb has proven popular among families with the resources to move; it only makes sense to engage philanthropic dollars to do the same for families without the means.

While none of these efforts specifically include education components, we at Fordham Ohio support creative efforts to lift poor families in the state. Schools generally have sufficient resources to do the work of education, but additional help is certainly welcome when it comes to fighting the effects of poverty. J.D. Vance and Mauricio Lim Miller are living examples of how a state of poverty does not determine the upper limit of a student’s achievement. The folks behind MOVE to Prosper similarly count high-quality schools as a vital resource often out of reach of poor families. If families must move to access better education and a better future, then let’s get moving.

We will be keeping an eye on all of these exciting new efforts through our Ohio Gadfly Daily blog, our biweekly email newsletter, and our thrice-weekly summary of Ohio education news clips. You can subscribe to any of our publications via this sign-up link.[1]