Ottawa County Community Action Agency and the Lakeshore NonProfit Alliance is sponsoring a no-charge presentation on The Suburbanization of Poverty: The Impact on the Social Safety Net in West Michigan. The event will be from 10 a.m. until noon on October 21 at the Grand Haven Community Center, 421 Columbus Avenue, Grand Haven.
Elizabeth Kneebone, senior research analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, will present in this event designed to spur conversations regarding implications and challenges for service providers and how providers can respond to this new dynamic, especially in the wake of shrinking resources, high unemployment, and new faces seeking help.
“By 2008, suburbs were home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country…. As food stamps become the de facto federal system for millions of families during the next few years of elevated unemployment, plugging participation gaps in suburbia may be an important new frontier for fighting hunger and poverty in America.”
You can find more information online.