40. Community Need East End Community Services addresses the complex needs of individuals and families living in poverty, and seeks to break the cycle of generational poverty that has gripped inner east Dayton since the 1960’s. Of the eight communities listed as most distressed in Dayton, two are in East Dayton (zip codes 45403 and 45410.) Zip code 45403 is the most distressed community in Montgomery County (Economic Innovation Group index of distressed communities.)

East End targets impoverished neighborhoods in the 45403 and 45410 zip code areas with emphasis on the Twin Towers, Walnut Hills, Linden Heights, Historic Inner East/Newcom Plain, Springfield, and Burkhardt neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are characterized by deteriorated housing stocks, low housing values, high rates of household poverty and child poverty, low academic performance, high rates of food and housing insecurity, addictions and mental health issues, etc. Children who grow up in poverty are 3-4 times more likely to remain in poverty as adults and heads of household. Most of the poverty in east Dayton is generational.

In the Twin Towers Neighborhood where East End is located, for example, fifty percent (50%) of households have incomes below the Federal poverty line compared to 15.3% in all of Montgomery County. Sixty-five percent (65%) of children living in Twin Towers live below the poverty line, as compared to 20.5% for all of Montgomery County. Median household income is $24,315 which is about $22,000 below that of Montgomery County. Nearly 28% of adults over age 25 in Twin Towers have not completed high school (compared to 9% in Montgomery County). (ACS data for 2017-22).

The Twin Towers neighborhood has been identified in the 2020 US Census as the most racially and ethnically diverse in Montgomery County. At Ruskin Neighborhood School in the Twin Towers neighborhood, 39% of k-6 students are Hispanic/Spanish speaking, 32% are White, 23% are African American, 6% are multi-racial. There are 15 languages spoken currently at Ruskin, which creates an exceptionally challenging learning environment for students.

Families thrive and break the cycle of generational poverty when all family members have access to high quality education, access to health care and ability to maintain healthy lifestyles, job training and access to living wage jobs, decent and affordable housing in safe neighborhoods, and a sense of belonging to a caring and supportive community. (These are the five Social Determinants of Health - SDOH). East End provides these services and helps families set their own goals and access services in an intentional manner to assure that everyone in the family is advancing toward their goals and creating their own pathways out of poverty.

Currently East End’s 52 employees are spread out among three very crowded buildings on Xenia Avenue and occupy spaces that were never intended to be offices or spaces for interacting with families (hallways and makeshift cubicles). Client privacy and overall security are often a problem. The buildings are more than 100 years old and in poor condition with leaky roofs and deteriorated walls and flooring. There are no windows to allow for natural ventilation. HVAC and plumbing systems are old and inadequate. There is little storage. The layout is inefficient for the services provided, and the buildings are visually quite unattractive. Some services and educational resources need to be provided by specialized service partners, including more certificated employment training, but there is no space available to accommodate them.

The needed physical expansion (adding about 7500 sq. feet of additional space) will enable us to serve an additional 1000 people a year, an expansion of 20%.