[Ohio] Poverty discussion captures attention of students

from The Mansfield News Journal

MANSFIELD -- Poverty, and its various forms, was the topic of six Richland County speakers gathered Thursday in the Student Union at The Ohio State University-Mansfield.

When Vicki Kane, director of Harmony House, spoke on homelessness, the subject hit home for one former OSU student. Hank Osborne, who recently graduated from the campus, said he experienced homelessness firsthand in the 1980s.

"(Vicki) says people who are homeless have a history, and that's right," said Osborne, 53, of Mansfield, "I was born in a welfare family ... and we were homeless for a time, and then I found myself homeless as well. It's not unusual for it to happen this way."

Don Mitchell, executive director of the Fair Housing Commission and Community Development, said most people, students included, are two paychecks from poverty.

"Most people tend to ignore poverty," Mitchell said. "Because if they don't pay attention to it, then it's not there."

Mitchell told students Richland County has some of the best resources for food, yet numerous people go hungry or don't get balanced diets. He said government should combat rising poverty by raising the minimum wage.

Veronna Drane, of Habitat for Humanity, said hundreds of families apply for housing assistance each year, but few make the cut.

"(Habitat for Humanity) works with volunteers to build houses with families who qualify," Kane said. "It's important to realize we're also not giving these houses away."

The final speaker, Dan Dickman, of Job and Family Services, told students issues of poverty could affect any of them at any minute.

"How we choose to take care of each other is going to make a major impact on our future because we live in a global society," Dickman said.

He said students can start determining their future by voting on Nov. 7.

"I think the speakers helped to dispel stereotypes of the poor and raised of a lot awareness," said Dean Evelyn Freeman.

"This forum was excellent in terms of informing the community," Osborne said. "You constantly need to bring these issues to the people because if you don't, they'll forget and ignore it."