SUPPORTS TO ENCOURAGE LOW-INCOME FAMILIES
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Self-Sufficiency Program Available To West Chester & Liberty Township Residents
WEST CHESTER/LIBERTY TWPS – With fuel prices at an all-time high and an alarming unemployment rate, Butler County residents are feeling the financial pressures when it comes time to pay off their monthly living expenses. Supports to Encourage Low-income Families (SELF), Butler County’s Community Action Agency, is offering its Project 2 Empower program to assist low-income residents of West Chester and Liberty Townships with these challenges.
First launched in West Chester and Liberty Townships in January 2004, Project 2 Empower has grown and expanded its reach throughout the county. It has gained support from the Community Foundation of West Chester/Liberty Township, the Liz Claiborne Foundation, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Butler County United Way.
Project 2 Empower aims to increase the level of self-sufficiency for “working poor” families in low-wage jobs who struggle to find ways to meet their daily living expenses. Through individualized case management, SELF provides participants and their families with a targeted support system designed to help them overcome barriers to increase income, higher education levels, and more stable living situations. Project 2 Empower specifically focuses on helping individuals to improve their employment opportunities through education, vocational counseling and other resources.
Project 2 Empower annually serves about 45 families from West Chester and Liberty Townships. Many of these clients are women who are single parents wanting to provide a better life for their children.
According to The Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s
Pulse:
A Study on the Status of Women and Girls in Greater Cincinnati
report, the overall poverty rate in Butler County is 8.7%, which is higher than the average poverty rate for the eight counties making up the Greater Cincinnati region.
“While West Chester and Liberty Townships are generally considered to be among the more affluent areas of the county, poverty is becoming more evident as the populations of these areas grow,” says Jeffrey Diver, executive director of SELF.
The federal poverty guidelines for 2008 set the poverty level at $17,600 for a family of three. In the Lakota School District in 2004, nearly 12% of the households living in the district earned less than $30,000 and there were 1,990 single parent households with children. The Project 2 Empower program is designed to provide the necessary support and educational tools for West Chester and Liberty Townships families to achieve their goals and dreams.
SELF accepts donations to further its mission to empower low-income individuals to achieve, sustain and advocate self-sufficiency. For more information on the Project 2 Empower program or how you can support its community efforts, please call 513-868-9300.
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SUPPORTS TO ENCOURAGE LOW-INCOME FAMILIES SUPPORTS TO ENCOURAGE LOW-INCOME FAMILIES 
