Hosted by the LeFevre Fellows of Ohio State Newark

Free and open to the public. Light refreshments served. 

The LeFevre Fellows are a selection of Ohio State Newark Honors students chosen each year to do community outreach, engagement and scholarship. Endowed by a generous grant from the LeFevre Foundation, every year the fellows volunteer with community organizations and study the economic, cultural, social, political and public health challenges and opportunities facing the Newark community, with a special emphasis on those facing the greatest precarity. 

This year, the students have organized themselves into four groups: substance use disorder, poverty, animal welfare and education. The education and poverty groups are hosting a public teach-in on campus about the relationship between primary and secondary education in Newark and poverty/homelessness. Their hope is to learn more about the challenges that families and educators face, create awareness of the interconnectedness of these issues, and to encourage community organization to foster positive change. 

Twenty-five percent of kids attending Newark schools live in poverty, twice the percentage of Ohio overall. Graduating Newark High School students enroll in college at a level 10% lower than the state average. On April 17, we will present a panel of experts on poverty, homelessness and education moderated by the students. Some of the questions we will address are: 

• How does food and housing insecurity affect the ability of students in primary and secondary education to learn?
• What is the effect of slashing funding and support for the arts, literature and the humanities?
• What is the effect of charter schools on public education?
• What other challenges are educators and parents facing? 

Deb Dingus (United Way), Trish Perry (Newark Homeless Outreach), Lecturer Kristi Frazier (The Ohio State University at Newark), Emily Barrett (Newark City Schools) and others will speak briefly on the interrelatedness of the issues. This will be followed by small-group work and a question-and-answer session led by the students.