In Cass and Clay counties, 1 in 7 children are growing up in poverty.
United Way of Cass Clay President and CEO Sandi Piatz says this means those children are three times more likely to face poverty as adults. And she says non-profits, local businesses and agency organizations are partnering to strengthen their community and break those cycles – no matter how complex they are.
"It may take giving them scholarships for education, it may take helping with mental health services, it may take supporting rental assistance or legal services in order to minimize their families from being evicted. What we do at United Way is work across multiple different agencies in order to bring them together, to solve those problems."
As the federal government shutdown continues, federal employees are missing paychecks and families who depend on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are without food assistance. Piatz says families who utilize SNAP are not the only ones who benefit from the program.
"We do know that we need to work together in the community in order to solve these problems. A stat I heard the other day, was that we have 9,000 people in our community that are using SNAP benefits, and for every dollar of SNAP benefit spent, it creates $1.50 of economic impact in our community. And so, it's this cyclical impact that's going to happen if we don't get this solved. And so, we do need to work together as a community to lift this up, and find a way to solve this together."
United Way of Cass Clay hosted their 23rd annual Women’s United Luncheon in Fargo on Tuesday. The event gathered 550 women together to raise funds to help women and children in poverty.