Help for Today. Hope for Tomorrow.
By Judy Schroeder
I’ve seen the research that says that impoverished children can be expected to accomplish as much as 3 times more when the place they call their neighborhood is a mixed income community. Why? No big mystery: communities can supply stability and security for each other where family resources are thin. That “mix” doesn’t even have to be very broad to be the safety net that lifts more children to higher expectations.
What does that mean in a place like Louisville where anyone who has been here even a short time understands that East, West, and South have their own unspoken, separate realities of wealth and family income?
Well, where I live in West Louisville, in a place that averages less than $18,000 annual household income, it means that families on my block – renters and owners – are part of a support system: every time they are walking a neighbor’s child to the bus stop, sharing a ride to the grocery, or passing around the news about better place to shop. Not too different than any other neighborhood, right? You all probably see something like that, especially where there are children.
That’s what I thought when we moved here. It just turns out that it’s even more crucial in a neighborhood like mine.
The time a couple of middle-school girls were helping me with some yard work was a real eye-opener. When I overheard one say to the other, “My Mom says I should eat all of the bread I want between meals when the check runs out,” that was more than just passing information! That was survival training. …I got my reputation for always having fresh fruit in the house that summer.
Through Metro United Way we all contribute to programs at Neighborhood House and the Presbyterian Community Center, or the Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCA, that help sustain that slim support system, stability and security, when families need that extra help. It was a blessing to be able to introduce my girls’ moms to the Kids’ Café, which served nearly 11,500 meals at Neighborhood House last year, and Dare to Care Food Banks which provided an additional 12,000 people with healthy emergency food.
Communities where people care for each other provide children with Hope for Tomorrow. Our network of services are in place, providing both Help for Today and Hope for Tomorrow.