Pilot program will address hunger in troubled neighborhoods
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Helping prevent crime by helping people out of poverty.
Starting Tuesday, there will be a new effort in some of the most troubled neighborhoods in Indianapolis.
Since last fall, the city’s Department of Public Safety has been working to reduce crime in six high-crime neighborhoods. Now, police will get some more help from Gleaners Food Bank. It’s all part of a program called Community Action Relief Effort, or CARE.
Gleaners is one of more than 30 community organizations and city agencies now helping to address the root causes of crime: like vacant homes, unemployment, mental health issues and poverty.
According to DPS statistics, poverty in many of those focus areas is greater than the average in Indianapolis. For example, near New York Street and Sherman Drive, DPS officials say 20.26 percent of families with children under 18 live below the poverty level. The average in Indianapolis for people with children is 12.7 percent.
What does that mean?
According to DPS’ poverty guideline, that means a four-family household is making less than $23,850 a year. So, officials say Gleaners has created a weekly pilot program to address hunger in those neighborhoods.
24-Hour News 8 will learn more details related to that new weekly program Tuesday afternoon.