How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes

How to End Poverty in 90 Minutes
a Sojourn Theater production
at Cleveland Public Theater

By Scott Myers

 Alejandro Tey in the Regional Premiere.  Photo Brud Giles

 

Field Trip Report

So many cool things happen in Cleveland that we in Akron could tap into to our benefit, but somehow that 40 minute drive up 77 seems overwhelming.  Gina Burk instigated an Akron contingent – Stephenie Leonardi  (aka Leo) with Summit Lake Build Corp, Beth Vild with Big Love, and myself – to visit a performance at Cleveland Public Theater Saturday evening, January 27th.  Here’s what we found:

Cleveland Public Theater (CPT)  is like the older sibling to the Balch Street Theater in Akron.  Both produce and stage theater events that speak to our times and places.

Bridges “Getting Ahead” Grad Looks to a Bright Future

Story and Photo Courtesy of the United Way of Summit County

At 23 years old, Tia has been through a lot. Kicked out of her parents’ house shortly before her 18th birthday, she spent years in an abusive relationship, had three children and was homeless for much of 2015. Yet, despite the turmoil of her last few years, Tia is determined to make a better future for herself and her family.

“I’ve been trying to go to different programs, to see how to better my life,” she says. “To get out of the whole trapped feeling.”

Gary Wyatt shares his path of redemption, commitment and leadership

Gary Wyatt,
Photo Courtesy of Leadership Akron

 

Story by Laura Ofobike – Courtesy of Leadership Akron Class ’12

 

Gary Wyatt has been on both sides of the addiction divide. Speaking to a Leadership on Main audience, the co-founder of North Hill Community House told a compelling story of personal redemption and commitment, and surprisingly to himself, leadership.

As a child, he saw his parents’ struggles with alcoholism and poverty. When he was a student and an athlete at Garfield High School, he did a “little alcohol and a little pot” now and then, he said, but never anything that got him into trouble. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school to see the world, served four years and returned to Akron in 1989.

Suburban and Rural Poor Stranded – Overcoming Difficulties Accessing Healthcare and Food

AMHA partners to bring services
to Twinsburg community Part 2

Story by Lyndsey Schley

 

Vaccines and WIC aim to keep babies healthy

Women, men and young children came and went from the impromptu waiting room outside the WIC Clinic at Pinewood Gardens April 30th. Children played with a bead maze while their guardians filled out forms.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides services for pregnant women, recent mothers and children up to the age of five. These services include a food program, health care referrals and nutritional education.

The clinic was formed three months ago, after AMHA realized community members were traveling to Akron for their WIC appointments, Morehouse said. Macedonia was closer, but it was not on the bus line.

Taking the High Road Out of Poverty

Story By Dorothy Markulis

 

Community Works Connection, a division of OPEN M, is giving those living in poverty a road map to a better life.

Last November, OPEN M established a new program to give those in poverty a way out, through full employment:  Community Works Connection.

“There are huge obstacles,” CWC Project Director Bob Titus explained.

Often coming from multi-generational poverty, clients in the project have no concept of how to get and retain full-time employment.