Denver's Gary Community Investments, which includes the Piton Foundation, recently ended one of its key programs aimed at fighting childhood poverty. Staff found that because of changes to poverty itself, the foundation had to change course, too.
Piton had focused on alleviating poverty in certain Denver neighborhoods through a program called the Children's Corridor. But it found its constituencies were increasingly moving out of the city, as home prices in Denver rose. Historically, services for the poor have focused on the inner city. Now, with poverty increasingly pushed to suburbs and exurbs, Piton is supporting an effort called Mile High Connects, to bring services along light rail and bus lines in Metro Denver.
Guests:
- Matthew Barry, vice president of strategic assessment at Gary Community Investments, which includes the Piton Foundation.
- Alan Berube is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He studies urban poverty.
