CHILDHOOD

HUNGER
& HOMELESSNESS

On Day One as Executive, I will lead the effort to end childhood hunger and homelessness in Oakland County by 2025, so one of the wealthiest counties in America will no longer stand by as children go hungry and homeless. All 28 Oakland County school districts should not need homeless student coordinators, and in 2025 they won’t.

 

I pledge to work across the public, private, non-profit and philanthropic sectors to eliminate childhood homelessness and hunger in Oakland County by 2025. According to the Michigan League for Public Policy’s 2018 Kids Count Report, nearly 11% of Oakland County’s children live in poverty. We know that with poverty, comes food and housing insecurity. Not only are these children enduring the trauma of insecurity in the present, but there are also lasting implications.

 

In a recent report, the University of Michigan found that Michigan’s homeless students have the lowest four-year graduation rate of any group for which data was available. One of the wealthiest counties in the country should not turn a blind eye as even a single one of its children go hungry and homeless. It is immoral. We have the resources to end childhood hunger and homelessness. What we have lacked — until now — is the will.

 

NO LONGER.