the county. 65,000 kids in our city, 53% of them, using that number, are in poverty. one child has six things they are trying to get at them. a kid caught in a web. kid. even if you stabilize one, the kid can't get out of the web. the challenges are real when we don't have coordination of services. we know we have a spirit within our giving circle that wants to work together. but we need to find a way because we are all serving the same people discretely and nobody is moving. it's a systems issue that we need to think through. i will close with this. 53% of our children are in poverty. only 5% of our kids break the cycle of poverty in a 5%.

you go to pittsburgh, it's 10%. some cities, it's 15%. so not just the fact that kids are in poverty, we have a system issue when kids can't break that. they are impacted by too many things and we are not stabilizing them enough to get them through. >> one of our agencies that is doing incredible work. what they do differently in that horrible chart, they take the person and put the person in the center and say what does this person need and they help that person from all of those different places. when you look at that road map, there isn't anyone that could use a road map like that. if you have someone with you, a navigator, that's what they do. they help you create your plan and help you learn how to

it's very intensive, but it works. >> belinda is doing something that works. 350, 360? >> 385. >> 385. >> there was a profile piece on what is working. if i remember what i took out of that, it was a growth mindset and grit. tell us about what you are teaching the kids. >> it's not just me. it's cincinnati public schools. it's built around teaching children about my tomorrow, my future. you need grit for life. you need grit to get through whatever you are going to get through.

we utilize this with the non-advisory which is a part of my growth mindset, it helps children to understand that someone is listening. we have a whole listening component within it. it's important that the we push the mindset, how the brain works. so if it's difficult, i can do it. it's no longer the study i can't do math, i'm a left brain or right brain. you can do it. it's really helped. so back to the first point. >> why said is what is working? >> what is working. so what works is that students no longer giving up. they are trying. they look forward. >> because they get that every day at school? do they lose it when they go home? >> with our community learning

it makes cincinnati public schools available almost 18 hour as hours a day, seven days a week. if someone wants to be available, it's available. so there are programs available on saturday. you may find me there on sunday. so all -- >> you know what's wonderful is you love that. >> yes. >> how many more love that? how many more adults are needed to do that because you have to have more than just belinda invested in that for 385 students. >> yes. it takes courage to be different. i would love to become a

every morning it feels good to put on my jacket because i know they need hugs, they are going to get them. they are going to put grease stains on my clothes. they can't wait. i need that. and i know they need it, too. but it's a great mindset and it starts from the top. not sure if our board is going to opt to clip funding on the levy, but we haven't had anything for like eight years. we lose the community learning centers that support the whole child after 5:00. >> first, tony, you said you found its working. we picked one zip code. how can you tell it's working? >> first, it comes down to what she said. there are concentrationings of poverty.

concentrations of poverty, things are different. give you an example. on july 17, 2014, lisa, my partner, sitting there, lisa and i were driving a truck and a van and a bunch of vollen tears through the apartments. there were not many kids coming out. normally we drive through and stop 26 times. we blare the horn and out come the kids. there weren't kids coming out. there was no program. it was mostly adults coming out. they were trying to take photographs of kids walking with their sacks. they weren't there. and so we investigated, what's going on. maybe the kids are leaping. maybe they have so little energy, that they are sleeping. it was two days later i was speaking to adam.

was give me water, warm water, which will settle the pangs of hunger and allow me to sleep. we began to think about that. one of the other people i checked into was a guy i worked with for years. every time i came, i said a hundred sacks of food, he said yes, i want yes, please. this time i said to gary, adam said to me that it can be said that children are fed warm water to get them through the afternoon. he said it was sugar water. for me it was sugar water. bread and sugar were available and you make sugar sandwiches. other people talk about mayonnaise sandwiches that no baloney go in. we have to start from that recognition of what it's like.

what's going on with that. the reading is up 67%. the number of kids reading. math is up 40%. what's incredible, we give this the sack of food. the children share the food with their mom, older sister. if mom or older sister gets pregnant, than our food is helping that unborn child. improving. births. >> this is over what period of time? >> it's annual. we saw what they were doing for five years. we have come from one level, we have come down to a new level in those measures. the value and dignity of the unborn child needs the support of food.

i will go to anjeanette. >> the first is rich jones. what kind of events can we create to build friendships and end poverty? the next one is simple, wages. our next comment is from betty. how big is the contributing factor our drug problem to poverty. the next is sarah. kids in cincinnati are some of the poorest and most undereducate in america, no more. our next comment is from jay. he says children at lincoln heights because their parents don't have jobs, all caps. and what can we do to help the immigrant population rise out of poverty.

may read your questions and comments. send us a tweet. also, you can weigh in on our local facebook page. >> let's begin from the beginning. thanks for throwing a bunch of them out there. let's begin, because we have children who are watching this program, which is wonderful, thank you, parents. who wants to attack if a child says i want to make a difference in my neighborhood, peter, do i start with you? what would you say, here's what you can do. >> find something useful to do. we made children useless. and we think going to school is enough. there's two story lines. one is compassion and what they are bringing to the world. it's moving, it's powerful, it's touching. makes good story lines.

economy that we structured. it's competitive, it's individualistic. if people don't get enough school, let's find jobs in the neighborhood. for you as a child to be productive or useful. i want to know what you are good at. we started with urban kids, we didn't ask them what's their record, what's your schooling, where do you sleep at night? we ask them what are you good at. what are gifts of these people. instead of treating them as if there is something wrong and we need to extract t it's an economic conversation. that's the parallel. of course, the compassion, of course the love. cooperation. there is a cooperative economy. you will never read about it. you are interested in leaders, you are interested in what

you are doing some of this. but if we change the skyline from poor, failed to gifts, possibility, and give them real money, give them a couple million dollars to fund and support local entrepreneurs, it's going to change. [applause] >> i know peter feels this way and others on the panel. maybe everybody in this building feels this way about how the media attacks this as our general manager said, we began in october. trying to find the stories that we need to tell. peter, i will let you start. someone else, i will let you start. where is the media failing in telling the story that can move the ball down the field? >> i would like to start with one thing. you guys are doing something completely different. we have been on television before and a reporter starts out with a statistic.

children in cincinnati. it's all okay, because lisa and tony are in their truck or van, it's all taken care of. so i applaud you guys, we are in the middle of it. >> i think the humanity needs to be restoredded on this issue. i talked at some of our safety meetings, there is so much judgment around people in poverty. we need to stop that. i think we are human beings. we need to see each other as human beings. individuals need to be seen as a people they are, not the circumstances they find themselves in. i walked into a form on the website when i was running to website, i expressed i love the suit you are wearing. and we got into this discussion, oh, those kids in the neighborhood, they are just -- i

you would have passed me 15 times and had all kinds of preconceived notions about me and my family, what we deserved and created. none of that is true. it's all of us seeing people for who they are, the potential, the challenges they face are not who they are. we'll have more compassion. we'll work together better and instill hope in each other, which i think is the key second to love. >> we talked about that love. we talked about it before we began when we were standing down. poverty isn't sexy. it's no fun, nobody wants to talk about it. oh, yeah, i want to get rid of those people in poverty, just don't go in there. i will give you money for cancer. but this poverty thing, it's somebody else's issue. i have a gentleman that wants to

>> my name is and y andy. i'm a principal. we believe we can change poverty in america, it involves one student at a time. we do it through corporate america. my question is to the panelists, in what way can we continue to engage our corporate community as a driving force behind ultimately changing the outcome in the lives of the children we are speaking of? start. robert, you want to begin? >> it's related to what he said and what everyone said, one of the most important challenges we are facing is the transition from high school to college among young people from all communities, but especially from poor communities. they are not doing well in that transition. that's because we are not focusing on what they want to do

we are not offering them opportunities that aren't necessarily a degree after four years of college. to the extent that the corporate world and education will get together and find on-ramps to employment for people, especially young boys coming out of high school, they can get into an educational program, advances. we can't say to everybody it's a four year college degree, because to a lot of people we have opportunities. >> go ahead. >> i was going to say, i think that, really, that's a perfect

match, where something benefiting both sides. the kids benefit and the employer benefits. it's a terrific model. it's not the only place, but we could use more of it. the reality is for the corporate community, we have jobs that go unanswered because we don't have enough people to fill them, enough qualified people to fill them. that's very frustrating to hear. but there was an article in the pay be shortage of people in the restaurant business. other than cincinnati works and cincinnati cooks and other programs, we are not filling those jobs. it's the partnership and i think the corporate community sees the poverty rates and is very concerned about it. this is a community we want to continue to grow.

are, a compassionate, vibrant community for all. >> absolutely. we have that really nice balance of give and take on both sides. it's a hand up, not a hand-out. that's a model. but how do we do that to fix our communities? in what ways can corporations partner in the neighborhood? how can we engage the business partners in that give and take relationship in the community? >> you got 60 people, they attend class, offer $10,000 to the one who does the best pitch. why not put a million dollars next to these programs. why not have more in eight neighborhoods. the corporate community is very generous. they get frustrated because the dollars aren't making a

if you can create a support for the entrepreneurial spirit. training them for jobs, the jobs are gone. everybody is angry. toyota is not coming to cincinnati, they are already here. we have the high skilled jobs going empty. if we say let's create jobs in these eight neighborhoods, they have entrepreneurial skills, marketing skills, invite them in not as board members in not for profits, but create entrepreneurial opportunities for people. now they call them neighbors and citizens. i will stop. >> okay, i'm going to give you $2 million. what are you going to do with it? >> invest it in housing, work

wellness, invest in safety. i think our plan in a comprehensive effort to decrease poverty and increase equity is already on the table. how you connect with corporations and they would appreciate or really want to change a big neighborhood, that's another question. >> i don't have $2 million, where are you getting the 2 million? >> i was waiting for linda to answer. linda would be a great start. we would love to hear from the cpc on this. >> well, what's interesting here is raising the question. if we have 60 plus million dollars going every year into our corporate fundraising and individual fundraising, are we using that money in the best

the united way, for example, is looking and saying how do we do things differently. there is a lot of opportunity and there is openness to the opportunity. >> i was going to say the strategies are the best place to start. one of the things i have been asking conversations, if somebody can get to your building, they can cross town to come to your services or cross town to come to where they are, they have eliminated three barriers, they probably have day care and transportation. they are probably not the most needy in our community. so by putting in things people need, employment, education, other support services right where people r we are going to

>> your name and question. >> i'm a concerned citizen from newport. my question is we haven't heard much about liveable wages this evening. i know the issue of poverty is complicated. how far would a liveable wage go toward alleviating poverty and right now where does the movement for liveable wages stand? >> what the food bank was doing, we talked to the funders. we want to set an example. we created a baseline compensation of $14 an hour. that was set at 200% of poverty level for a family of 3. we started there. this is what we are doing, how can we help. >> anybody down there that wants

>> i think a liveable wage is a no-brainer. there is huge story line, we can't afford it. so people ask whether you want ketchup with your fries, is not going to drive mcdonald's out of business. >> i have two concerns about it. the first is that mandated minimum wage or higher wage by government, nation wild or any large area, is going to lead to some people not being able to hire people. that is particularly a problem for people who are most in need. people coming back to prison, people no really need a first job. i would be concerned about the raise of wage. it's not an antipoverty program. it could hurt people who are poor. the other thing is whenever we talk about the wage, we should recognize that we created,

very significant work support system that does shore up wages especially for single parents with children in the household. so while they make 8 or $9 an hour, they have eligible for food stamps, they are eligible for child care assistance. so we do have this elaborate system that shores up people that have wages. it is successful in making work pay. we shouldn't ignore it and just pretend it's not there. it's a complicated issue. we put all our chips in solving our poverty program, i'm not sure we'll make as much progress as we would like. >> i disagree. i think that there have been over the past several decades so many pressures on wages, they are going down. we have to do everything in our community to change that trend. kurt gave a great example.

wages, that doesn't mean you are going to eliminate jobs. i don't think kurt has eliminated a single job. he just increased wages. employers. >> we have a lot of good comments coming in. this latest comes from jack, he says numerous studies have shown that access to contraception and family planning improve women's ability to come out of poverty. >> i like the comment with the centers, that gives opportunity for partners and outside programs to come in and educate our students.

slippery ground when it comes to sex, period. but, however, there are an enormous amount of children born out of simple sexual activity. we have to educate our children. in order to do that, we need the resources and outside programs to educate our children. and we have the circumstances we have because of simple sexual activities, we are lives that are here. >> children and poverty are five times more likely to have unintended pregnancy. we have to make sure to know what to do when that happens. when that happens it, doesn't mean the end of your life, the challenges are stronger. and the support services that these organizationings provide outside abortions. making sure they know what the

and eliminating those programs are not the right way to go. the issue is equal pay. >> i got ten seconds. thank you very much. people here thank you. for those watching local 12, we'll stay on this. thank you for joining us on our town hall. 3 loved ones remember an innocent man whose life was cut short by seemingly random gun violence... 3

pick up this week. how long you can forget about the rain gear. in your weather authority forecast. 3 thena local woman breaks the cycle... successfully escaping childhood poverty and abuse. how she found her way out... and how she's helping young lives today...on local 12 news live at eleven. ----------------- the difference between possible and impossible? it's a person who believes they can, surrounded and supported by others-by us- who believe it, too. u.s. bank -- the

rotect my cousin. but my pod got knocked off-course and by the time i got here, my cousin had already grown up and become superman. and so i hid my powers until recently when an accident forced me to reveal myself to the world. to most people i' m an assistant at catco worldwide media. but in secret, i work with my adoptive sister for the deo to protect my city from alien life and anyone else that means to cause it harm. i am supergirl. hank henshaw: previously on supergirl... cat: she broke a story and then gave it to my biggest competitor.