A new report by the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio shows little improvement for low income children in the state’s Appalachian region.
The new report finds the top 12 Ohio counties with the highest rates of child poverty are all located within Appalachia. That doesn’t come as a surprise to Republican State Representative Ryan Smith, who's from Gallipolis. He says generational poverty is hard to break.
“I don’t think there’s any silver bullet. I don’t think there’s any $50 million figure we could throw at anything to solve this problem.”
The report says more public and private partnerships are needed in the region to address challenges ranging from economic instability, food insecurity and educational deficits.