On November 17, 2016, five Austin non-profit agencies were awarded grants to fund initiatives created to propel 2-Generation Programming (2-Gen) in Austin, TX. American YouthWorks, Jeremiah Program and Saint Louise House were each awarded $30,000 grants and Goodwill Central Texas and SSP Learning Center were each awarded $15,000 grants. Leah Meunier, Chief Programs Officer at United Way for Greater Austin (UWATX) adds, “These five funded programs help parents pursue education and pathways to superior employment opportunities while also ensuring that their young children have access to high-quality early education. We know early education fosters key developmental needs for school readiness—in turn, embedding anchors of opportunity for upward economic mobility across generations. UWATX is privileged to support these organizations during a period when Austin’s families and communities may depend on their work more than ever.” Over the last two years, UWATX and Austin’s 2-Gen Advisory Committee, have worked to demonstrate the value of the two-generation approach in service provision, bringing together local service providers and top researchers from around the country in 2-Gen community forums. The result of these discussions is a “Two-Generation Vision for Austin” which states, “Intergenerational poverty is a major problem in the United States. Economic mobility across generations (or the ability for children to do better financially than their parents) has diminished over time, and Austin is no exception, with lower mobility rates than many major cities. Chronic poverty produces toxic stress that affects adults’ abilities to perform well in the workplace and to provide a high quality […]
Read MorePoverty Awareness Month
January is Poverty Awareness Month, and we have chosen to once again highlight one of the communities we serve—Dove Springs in southeast Austin. For the most part, the Dove Springs neighborhood has not changed significantly when you look at demographics data over the past three years with one key exception: poverty. According to the most recent data, one in five adults in Dove Springs live in poverty, while more than a third of children in this community also live in poverty. This means about 12,000 in Dove Springs alone are living in poverty. And, unfortunately, these numbers are only increasing each year. 20% of adults in Dove Springs live in poverty 36% of children in Dove Springs live in poverty 10% of seniors in Dove Springs live in poverty From 2011 to 2013, the Dove Springs population grew by 7%, but the number of residents in this community living in poverty grew by 15%. According to PovertyUSA, the number of Americans living in poverty today is higher now than in the last 50 years. As Austin continues to become more unaffordable, even for those living above the poverty level, the urgency of intervention and change becomes more crucial. The first step toward breaking the poverty cycle is promoting the understanding of poverty and its root causes. PovertyUSA produced an informative and interesting video that showcases how families living in poverty in the U.S. spend their money, and how easy it is to quickly fall behind while debt continues to […]
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