Friday, April 01, 2016

Homeless outing in Licking County

One of our Ohio branch campuses of OSU is having an event to draw attention to homelessness. 
"The Ohio State University at Newark Dean/Director William L. MacDonald, Ph.D., will be sleeping outside on April 7 at the shared campus of Ohio State Newark and Central Ohio Technical College with United Way Executive Director Deb Dingus to kick off 50 the United Way and bring awareness to homelessness in Licking County." OSU news On Campus, March 24, 2016
It might be useful to assign good students and staff to compile a list of all the federal, state, and local tax supported programs for Licking County, add in the church charities and non-profits, and then figure out the overlap and wasted resources and determine if this homelessness is lack of income for available housing stock, mental illness, a temporary expulsion from a home situation due to misbehavior or domestic violence, or inefficient use of resources by professionals (social workers, government employees and academics).
The U.S. spends approximately $22,000+ per person in the low income/poor bracket available through tax supported programs. That’s $88,000 for a household of one mother and 3 children on top of what other income she might have. That doesn’t include food pantries, free medical clinics, church employment training, etc. Only one nation (Norway) spends more per person on social welfare than the U.S. USDA reports that only 4 percent of poor children were hungry for even a single day in the prior year because of a lack of funds for food. (http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp138710.pdf http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424009/poverty-us-we-spend-much-more-person-social-welfare-europe-does-robert-rector)
After the Dean draws attention to homelessness in Licking County, Ohio, will anything change?

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