Community Leaders Plan Voices of Families Forum October 20th to Advance Statewide Child Poverty Agenda
In West Virginia, 25% of children live in poverty. Making real commitments to addressing this issue requires that West Virginians come together. All West Virginians – parents, policy advocates, service providers, religious leaders, labor and business leaders, are invited to participate in a forum to combat child poverty on October 20th, 2016 at 5:30 pm at West Virginia Northern Community College Auditorium in the B & O Building, located at 1704 Market St.
At this non-partisan event, parents, grandparents, and youth will share their stories, build relationships, and ask candidates for state legislature to support the issues that are most on their minds, including violence in our communities, supporting the health and wellness of WV’s youth, fair housing, and public education reform. This family friendly event will begin at 5:30 pm with a pot luck supper. During the forum, children will be participating in activities provided by the Marshall County Family Resource Network. Youth and adults will speak to issues that they see in the community.
The 2016 Our Children, Our Future Commitment is made up of policy ideas that were submitted, reviewed, debated, and finally selected by a diverse group of nearly 4000 WV citizens, including Democrats, Republicans, teachers, pastors, policy makers, parents, healthcare professionals, young people, and more. This event will also include an opportunity for primary caregivers who would like to be involved in addressing the reform of public education in WV to meet one another and share ideas. It will be a kick-off to a grassroots, statewide effort supported by the Our Children, Our Future campaign.
This forum in is one of over 20 happening all around the state, each advancing the same statewide issues that aim to alleviate child poverty in our state. Candidates for the state legislature from all northern panhandle districts will be invited to attend. This forum is being organized by Youth Services System, Laughlin Chapel, and many individual parents and grandparents from the northern panhandle committed to the future of our state.