Trending
It's not something that many people often think about, but the state of the community is connected plays an important role in opportunities for economic development.
That's a point that has not been lost on the Rev. Ashley Steele.
The executive director of Steubenville-based Urban Mission Ministries had the opportunity to discuss that and offer an overview of the work the organization does when she spoke at the March 6 meeting of the Steubenville Rotary Club. It's something that she really thought about while attending the State of Jefferson County presentation.
"As I was sitting there, I realized that everyone who was up on that stage, whether on a daily basis or a weekly basis, is referring people to social services for some type of assistance," Steele said while looking back at the Feb. 20 presentation in the auditorium at Steubenville High School. "And it just struck me that the social service sector in any community, but specifically in ours -- and you can think about those other nonprofits and organizations -- are playing a role in the state of the county."
The way all of that works together is important, she said.
"For me, I can always see that connection, but sometimes for others, it's hard to make that connection between the two," Steele explained. "So, when I view community development working in the social sector, I think of that as being entities that are producing assets that are improving the quality of life of people.
"Economic development is vocalizing those assets, that there will be some type of benefit to the community, specifically from the economic standpoint," she added.
And, improving the lives of residents of the community will make the area more attractive to those who are willing to make investments.
"When I think about the work that social services do, we're trying to build community assets, trying to build an institution. We're trying to build community capacity by investing in people and investing in their well-being," she said. "Whether it's their health, whether it's their education, whether it's their ability to interact in the larger community and being able to do the things that we've been call to do."
Whether we realize it or not, there's a significant amount of need in the community, Steele explained. And a lot of that is centered around food insecurity,
The Urban Mission, Steele explained, partners with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, which is based in the Columbus suburb of Grove City. It serves nearly 700 agencies in 20 counties in the southeast part of the state, including Jefferson, Harrison and Belmont.
In 2022, Steele explained, the collective estimated that there were 10,000 people in Jefferson County who were accessing a food pantry or some type of food service. When you look at the demographics, she added, the figures show there are 23,000 people who are considered to be food insecure.
"So, that's a pretty big gap in our community for people who could be using our food pantry but aren't," Steele said.
In 2022, about 1 million pounds of food came through the Urban Mission. That translates into 5,800 meals a day that are being provided through the food pantry.
In 2023, she said, somebody came through the doors of the Urban Mission to access food more than 36,000 times, a number which equals about 3,600 unduplicated families. The average person will visit 10 times a year.
"Sometimes people have it in their minds that people are going to get food every single week, but the average family is only coming 10 times," she said.
That service works out, Steele added, to about 29 percent children, 51 percent people between the ages of 18 and 59 and 20 percent senior citizens. In 2023, she said. There were 17,805 visits from senior citizens, and some of that, she added, can be traced to growing numbers of people in that age group who are taking care of their grandchildren.
And, last year, 919 new families signed up for food -- those are, she explained families who had never used the food pantry before or, at the least, for as long as the Urban Mission has been tracking them,
If you shop at a grocery store at all, you no doubt have been shocked at the way food prices have increased during the past several years. Those higher costs also are affecting food pantries -- who must buy a lot of the food they distribute.
"The food that we are purchasing now has tripled in cost," Steele said. "We always use the tuna can -- before, we were able to get tuna fish for about $9 for a big case. That went up to $33, and that's us buying in bulk through a food bank, who's getting a lot of free products, but they still have to buy products and they pass that along to us."
Included in that mix is more healthy food, Steele said. That's because there's a big connection between health outcomes and food insecurity, she said, and people who don't have access to healthy food are likely to have health issues, which can make bigger problems for other agencies.
"If we can tackle that at the forefront, maybe that will help lessen some of the burdens on other institutions," she added.
In addition to food, the Urban Mission plays a vital role in serving the area's homeless population through the City Rescue Mission, Martha Manor and Hutton House shelter. In 2023, Steele said, the Urban Mission served 504 individuals who were homeless. And that can be expensive -- it costs about $50,000 a month to offer homeless services, and only $20,000 of that comes from the state.
But it's money that can help everyone in the long run.
"When you invest in people, you are investing in families; and when you are investing in families, you are investing in neighborhoods; and when you are investing in neighborhoods, you are investing in uptowns and downtowns; and when you are investing in businesses, you are investing in economic development.
"The connection is there," she added. "Each time we invest in a nonprofit, it is trying to help the bottom line of the entire community."
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times. He is a member of the Steubenville Rotary Club.)