Poverty & Hunger in Lakewood

[John Litten]

Good morning! I come to the deck seeking your feedback.

I am interested in writing a LO article about poverty and hunger in Lakewood. I have had the chance to serve on the CAC (2010-2013), which aids in the distribution of federal block grant dollars to both the city and local non-profits that serve Lakewood residents. I am aware of the work that Lakewood Human Services, LCSC, North Coast Health, Lakewood Alive and others are doing, but I wont pretend to know anything close to all I would need to write such an article.

In a way, this is also what I do for a living. My own organization, which serves those in need throughout northeast Ohio, has done well with publishing articles about fundraisers and awards, but I need to do more and work harder to tell the story of those we and many others serve. In doing so, and raising awareness, my hope is that we can all serve more people, better.

I moved recently, just a few blocks within Lakewood. A friend from Bay Village made the assumption that I had moved westward, which wasn't the case. My hope is that by building awareness so that we can lift people out of generational poverty, we can move toward a Lakewood that embraces every neighborhood, east and west, north and south, and outgrow the "not in my backyard" mentality that has sent some people westward, often out of Lakewood.

So I come to you for feedback on the issue within Lakewood, in the hopes of shining additional light on this important topic.

Thank you in advance!

John Litten

[Jim O'Bryan]

John

The Lakewood Observer is a community owned and run project that encourages all residents
to find their voice and send in stories or post about their "Observations" and thoughts.

Since the project was started over 5,000 people have written for the project, which is why
we have grown into 14 communities.

Please submit, the same to all.

This project is merely a mirror of Lakewood, and it is startling how good it is at that.

.

[Michael Deneen]

Thank you for exploring this topic.
It's an important matter that deserves attention.

[John Litten]

Thanks to Emma Petrie Barcelona (of our school board), who directed me to this brief but poignant primer on the topic in Lakewood (from the Brookings Institution).

http://confrontingsuburbanpoverty.org/t ... cleveland/

A staggering data point, in my opinion, was that "Between 1998/99 and 2009/2010, the share of Lakewood High students receiving free and reduced price lunch shot up from 9 to 46 percent"

[todd vainisi]

What is the reason for that spike in free lunches? Did the criteria for qualifying loosen up? It doesn't seem to jive with the moderate spike in below the poverty line residents cited in that same article.

The free/reduced meal topic is a controversial one, as that status is used to determine all sorts of other things in the school, such as who gets lent school calculators.

[John Litten]

There is an article in the current issue of the Observer that is a primer on this topic.
http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2014/1 ... d-a-primer

I'd really love your feedback and additional thoughts on the issue.

I also found this article and thought it was very interesting. It certainly gives perspective to our common rush to judgment on why people get what they get, or do what they do.

http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/what ... -shopping/

Thanks in advance.