The Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative invests dollars in programs and services to help fathers. As we recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month this April, the Fatherhood Initiative is proud to support the Safe and Sound Supervised Visitation Program of the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center (DVCAC). The program provides services for families that are mandated to participate in supervised visitation.

April 2019 is National Minority Health Month. During this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Minority Health seeks to raise awareness regarding the health disparities experienced by ethnic and racial minorities living in America. The theme for 2019 is Active and Healthy, and the goal of this year’s theme is to promote a healthier lifestyle by encouraging all Americans to engage in regular exercise.

There’s no dancing around it; working in the social services is tough. From the unpredictable hours, the even more unpredictable customers, to the emotionally intense work, it takes a special person to even consider this field. And yet half a million people across the country, and hundreds in Cuyahoga County come to work every day and put their hearts and souls into serving others. For these people, social service work isn’t a job; it’s a calling.

Cuyahoga County currently has more than 2,500 children in our care—more than we’ve had in years. Most will be in our custody temporarily while their parents or guardians work to resolve issues; some need a forever family. Whether temporary or permanent, each of these 2,500 children need a safe, stable, and loving place to call home. Finding those homes requires normal, everyday people deciding to make room in their hearts for a child who needs help.

Open Table now has over 300 registered volunteers and we have assigned over 200 of those volunteers to tables in 2018 alone. We also launched 27 new tables in 2018. The expansion prompted us to create a new nonprofit called Community of Hope so that we could expand and sustain the work.

Seniors remain vulnerable to hunger when they cannot easily access food or have a limited income that results in eating food of poor nutritional value simply because it’s the most affordable. Sometimes referred to as “food insecurity,” an increasing number of seniors face a daily reality of impending malnutrition.