Progress against poverty: OpportUNITY report

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BUSINESS RECORD STAFF | Jul 28, 2016 | 8:13 pm |

1 min read time

A quarterly meeting on the communitywide effort to reduce poverty in the Greater Des Moines area on Tuesday reported progress by four key work groups on education, transportation and housing, policy change, and food insecurity, said Don Honnold, a spokesman for United Way, which coordinates the group.

Progress included:

More than 200 local organizations in the past year endorsing the OpportUNITY Plan, an action blueprint to measurably reduce poverty and improve opportunity for central Iowans.
An April United Way study, called the Alice Report, quantified poverty in Iowa, finding that one in three Iowans need assistance in covering basic expenses, and that includes people whose incomes are up to twice the federal poverty income guidelines.
DMACC and United Way ramped up Bridges to Success, an initiative to help 10,000 central Iowans achieve high school equivalency diplomas by 2020.
United Way launched its Read to Succeed literacy effort to match volunteers to children in need of reading help.
Summer in the City, an intensive summer education and enrichment program for students in three Des Moines elementary schools and in Urbandale, has served 10,000 children. The program helps feed children who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches during the school year and helps them maintain their educational skills, rather than losing ground over the summer.
Another 10,000 children and 613 teens participated in the Des Moines Public Library’s Summer Reading Program.
Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) launched its first mobile food pantry — a refrigerated truck that can serve several neighborhoods that don’t have food pantry sites.
The first ever Refugee Summit is scheduled for Oct. 7-8.
A new federal child care block grant was secured to provide child care assistance to displaced workers while they either look for a new job or go to school to gain new skills.

The next quarterly OpporUNITY summit is scheduled for Oct. 25 at Des Moines Botanical Gardens. For more information on the OpportUNITY effort, click here.