Stephanie Hightower is president and CEO of the Columbus Urban League.
On edge.
That’s the phrase that comes to mind when I think of many families in central Ohio today.
Turn on the news and it consumes you. Stocks jump and drop like a yo-yo. Tariffs spike, disappear, shift and morph again. Conflict in the Middle East rattles global markets – and shows up at our local pumps. This past week, gas prices topped $4.99 a gallon.
Closer to home, electric utility costs have climbed by roughly 20% or more since 2020. Rents are up about 22%. And food prices keep inching higher – 3.1% more this February than last.
Those aren’t abstract data points. They are groceries, rent and keeping the heat and lights on.
At the Columbus Urban League, we serve and respond to families across this region. Some find themselves bogged down with credit card debt and low credit scores.
Others watch their 401(k)s plummet into what feels more like 101(k)-I-guess-I’m-not-retiring-anytime-soon plans. Still others have no retirement savings at all.
When a stable house is no longer stable
But the families we worry about most are those living on the edge — either trapped in poverty or just above the poverty line, working, trying to do everything right, but still barely making ends meet.
The United Way calls that latter group ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.
They live paycheck to paycheck. They don’t have a cushion. When life happens — as it always does — everything can unravel. An over-mileage car won’t turnover one more time. The household breadwinner gets sick.
An unexpected emergency arises.
And suddenly, a stable household isn’t stable anymore.
Many of the people we serve fall into this category. Some work for employers who won’t offer full-time hours. Others are underemployed, which means they work in jobs that don’t match their skills or education. And many are simply stuck in jobs that don’t pay much.
According to the United Way of Central Ohio, about 800,000 people in our region live in poverty or ALICE households. These families may be forced to spend 80 cents or more of every dollar they earn on essentials – housing, food, transportation.
Spending 80 cents of every dollar from your paycheck before any unexpected or urgent expenditure happens? That’s dangling right out over the edge.
Are people willing?
But here’s the other truth: We are also living in a moment of abundance.
Central Ohio is growing. Fortune 100 companies and new unicorns are investing and laying down roots. New jobs are on the market. Unemployment is low. We tap into a large pool of enormously talented and resilient workers. New opportunities arise almost daily.
And our people want to take those opportunities.
In a survey of more than 3,500 central Ohioans, we found that the majority said they would jump at the chance to pursue a higher-wage, high-growth career, even if it meant making short-term sacrifices. More than half said they would spend a year training for a job in fields like advanced manufacturing.
We know this to be true. For example, the Franklin County Trades Academy funded by our Franklin County Commissioners has already helped 85 graduates explore careers in the skilled trades. Nearly eight in 10 are now working in those fields. 95% earned OSHA certifications along the way. And, we have a waitlist of 1,500 people who want in.
So, the question isn’t whether people are willing. The question is: Are we doing enough to meet them halfway?
Because the path from fragile to stable – from just getting by to actually getting ahead – isn’t automatic. People need to know what opportunities exist. Many don’t.
They need support to get through training. Can they afford to earn less for a while? Can they take classes at night? Who’s watching the kids? How do they get there?
And they need help landing and keeping their new job. That means everything from practicing interview skills and learning to navigate workplace culture to addressing barriers like a criminal record.
None of that is simple. But none of it is impossible either.
When we get this right — when we partner, mentor and invest in people — the return is enormous. Families stabilize. Kids do better in school. People move off of assistance and into the tax base. They buy homes. They support local businesses. We see these outcomes daily.
A study we commissioned by Regionomics found that helping more people fully participate in our economy could add $42 billion to our regional GDP by 2035 and lift 42,000 families out of poverty.
That’s what abundance looks like.
Fragile edge and incredible abundance. They can exist side by side. Our job is to close the gap between them.
Stephanie Hightower is president and CEO of the Columbus Urban League.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: $4.99-a-gallon gas latest thing pushing Columbus residents off edge as region booms| Opinion
Reporting by Stephanie Hightower, Guest Columnist / The Columbus Dispatch
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