Early education could be key to children breaking out of poverty
AVONDALE, Ohio (WKRC) - Cincinnati is one of worst places to escape the hold of poverty, according to new study out Wednesday.
That study predicts that children born into poverty have very little chance of breaking out, unless something changes.
The solution, according the experts, is an early education. That means kids should be going to preschool.
At the Living God Preschool, 3- to 5-year-old's from Avondale get to sing, learn, play and eat. They're lucky. Half of the children in Cincinnati aren't going to preschool, and a new study looked at the health impact for those kids. It revealed some startling outcomes.
Holly Avery with Human Impact Partners says Cincinnati has "twice the child poverty rate, twice the rate of crime and twice the rate of single parent households. compared to the nation."
Top community leaders came together to detail the health impact assessment research, including Dr. Kristen Copeland, a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. She says it’s upsetting.
"I can't give my patients the one thing that research has shown will lead to better health, longer more productive lives for my patients and that is a preschool education," Copeland said.
One of the ways to change that will be in the hands of Cincinnati voters in November. A levy on the ballot is asking residents to support a preschool promise.
Stephanie Byrd, the executive director of Success by 6 said, "We will be offering two years of preschool in quality preschool programs, a tuition credit for those families who quality in a high quality program, plus those programs that are on the path to quality. We will give that program support."
Pastor Ennis Tait says at the Church of Living God preschool there is a need to expand.
"We have a number of kids in Avondale who are not involved in any preschool, so we are going to make a push to get those kids into our trench so we can get them to pour into the next phase of our lives," he said.
The November levy is for $48 million. $15 million of that will go towards preschool education.
If approved, the five-year levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home an extra $277 a year.
The Health Impact Assessment was conducted by Human Impact Partners in partnership with The AMOS Project and advisory committee members from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Interact for Health, Mercy Health, StrivePartnership and United Way of Greater Cincinnati/Success By 6. The study was supported by grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Interact for Health and Mercy Health.
To access the full report, visit www.humanimpact.org.
