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By Mark Ferenchik 
The Columbus Dispatch 

Bessie Jackson moved from the East Side to Gahanna in August, figuring it would be better for her 10- and 6-year-old sons. Jackson felt that they weren’t getting a good-enough education at the schools they were attending, plus they were being bullied.

Thanks to our hosts Bridgette Mariea and Joseph Wisne of Roto Group, our Casual Evening of Cocktails with Families Flourish on Oct. 24, 2018, was a huge success. Check out our newest video here: Families Flourish Families Video

It was one of those rare moments of bipartisanship in Washington: Republican and Democratic lawmakers who agree on little seemed to concur, only months ago, that helping poor families escape poor neighborhoods was one path to making poor children’s futures brighter.

We are thrilled to share that the first 10 families will be in their new homes before school begins this summer. Seven families have been approved and 3 more should be approved in the next 3 weeks.

By Mark Ferenchik The Columbus Dispatch

A new program geared toward moving low-income, single-mom families into stable housing and neighborhoods will begin taking applications Thursday.

 Dispatch: Program eyes suburbs for needy families 3.25.18 

Families Flourish\’s first event on October 3 hosted by volunteers Tiffiney and Matt Hatem was a tremendous success.  Thank you to the Hatems for their vision, passion and generosity.  Check out the Facebook Live Video of Cocktails with Families Flourish! 

CU: I just wrote about a program here called Families Flourish, which will take poor families and provide support for them to move to what they call high opportunity neighborhoods. What are your thoughts on these types of programs?

RF: This really comes off the work of brilliant economist Raj Chetty, who argues, very convincingly, that economic mobility has slowed down, and that it is worse in sprawling areas and in highly segregated areas. His work suggests that if you take a poor kid out of a high-poverty neighborhood, the younger you do it, the better off that kid is.

A group of affordable-housing advocates is raising money for a $5 million pilot program that will move 100 inner-city families into suburban school districts in an attempt to give them more opportunities.

The Families Flourish project will give low-income families with children 13 or younger a chance to live in more upscale neighborhoods.

A 2013 nationwide study by economists from Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley found that low-income children in metro Columbus had just a 5.1 percent chance of reaching the top fifth of household income by age 30, making Columbus one of the least-promising areas in the country for kids who start near the bottom to climb the financial ladder.

Columbus Underground, March 24, 2017

A group of local academics and affordable housing advocates are working on a unique response to the issue of economic segregation in the region. The plan is to help 100 low-income families move to “high opportunity” neighborhoods, providing rental assistance, coaching, access to educational resources, and other types of support to the families for three years.

Central Ohio has become a region with some places offering many opportunities – jobs; quality, healthy homes; and high-performing schools – while other areas have few opportunities. The resulting economic and racial segregation are detrimental to the long-term business growth and economic vitality of our region.