Anti-Poverty Strategy Paper

Anti-Poverty Strategy Paper The anti-poverty program that I decided to research is the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks (OASHF). OASHF is Ohio’s largest charity that is dedicated to helping people who cannot even obtain the most basic necessities. OASHF helps provide food and money to the twelve food banks in Ohio’s eighty-eight counties. The mission of OASHF is to “assist food banks in Ohio in providing food and other resources to people in need and to pursue areas of common interest for the benefit of people in need.” Their goal is to make sure that people who are in poverty, who cannot afford to buy food for themselves or for their families, are taken care of. In the second fiscal year of 2009, OASHF donated more than 24.5 million pounds of food to Ohioans. OASHF is also home to The Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB), which is an online site that counsels and serves Ohioan families, which are seeking help, such as when they ask for food or for help finding a job. OBB also helps people file their taxes, at no cost, and helps them determine if they are eligible for tax credits. OBB has more than 1,022 sites in Ohio. OBB is mainly located in faith based sites. OASHF is funded by grants received by the state of Ohio and by donations from individuals that support their cause of relieving poverty. All of this money is put towards helping OASHF grow and to help people in need. OASHF has helped over 82, 700 Ohioans just this year and has put over $150 million into the economies where the food banks are located. Not only does OASHF provided food to the poor, but they also provide services. OASHF is committed to helping all people understand the facts about poverty. They train staff members and these staff members travel around Ohio, conducting “Bridges out of Poverty” workshops. These workshops include poverty simulations, in which participants are given real life situations and they learn about how their life would be affected if one of these