A Cincinnati pastor is walking 46 miles across Hamilton and Butler counties to bring attention to the challenges facing homeless youth and children in foster care.
His walk will end less than two weeks before Hamilton County voters will decide whether to raise property taxes to pay for a children services levy on Nov. 3.
Aim is to help groups 'be better advocates'
Peter Matthews, a senior pastor at New Vision United Methodist Church in Paddock Hills, is making the journey across five days, stopping at 25 organizations that serve youth in Greater Cincinnati.
Matthews started his walk Oct. 19 at the Isaac M. Wise Temple, also called the Plum Street Temple, downtown. His walk will end at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati in West Chester on Oct. 23.
The interfaith walk is headed by Global
Village 513, a Cincinnati affiliate of the Dayton Equity Center. Matthews is founder of the Equity Center.
At each stop he asks community leaders the following three questions:
- What are you seeing in the children you serve that the rest of this city does not see?
- What would change tomorrow if the village showed up in a way that it should?
- Who else should be walking with us today?
Matthews told The Enquirer these questions will help each group "get a sense of what people are going through and how they can be better advocates."
Matthews will compile all the organizations' answers and present them at a symposium titled "State of Our Children: Now or Never" on Oct. 24.
Walk comes before children's services levy vote
Matthews' walk will end just 11 days before Hamilton County voters will decide whether to fund a new children's services levy. The levy would fund the county's child protection investigations, child abuse hotline, foster care, adoption and family reunification.
The current children's services levy will expire this year. The proposed levy, if passed, would cost property owners $121 per $100,000 of property values for four years, around a 50% increase from what they pay now. But the proposed increase comes amid concerns over rising property taxes and affordability.
Matthews' friend, Steven Easley, who has been coordinating the walk with him, said the initiative "has nothing to do with politics whatsoever."
"This is about talking to the communities and asking 'What does childhood poverty look like now? And how can we help?" Easley said.
Matthews serves on the Hamilton County Tax Levy Review Committee, a nine-member board that evaluates tax levies that are placed on the ballot. Matthews previously spoke in favor of the levy on Aug. 12, The Enquirer reported.
But Matthews said Oct. 20 he is "not endorsing anything," but wants voters to think about the next generation.
"I would always be mindful that the babies are on the ballot with every choice you make," he said. "And as you consider how to vote in your conscience, do just that, and consider not what you're going through, but consider what the next generation is going through."
'A growing crisis in our community'
The pastor slept overnight Oct. 18 in the Cincinnati Public Schools Safe Sleep Lot, which allows families experiencing homelessness to park overnight. CPS staffers with the district's Project Connect Program, which operates the safe sleep lot, walked for 4 miles beside him the morning of Oct. 20 to the Buddhist Dharma Center of Cincinnati in Northside.
Rebeka Beach, program manager for Project Connect, was one of those who joined the walk. Beach told The Enquirer she hopes the walk brings awareness to the issues her program is trying to address.
"Children experiencing homelessness are not who you think of when you think of homelessness, but it's really a growing crisis in our community and nationally," Beach said. "Our numbers have doubled in the last 10 years."
Matthews said the goal of the walk is to highlight programs like Project Connect.
How to join the walk
Matthews is encouraging others to walk beside him over the next several days.
He will have 14 more stops from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23, and a tentative schedule is available here. Matthews also posts updates on his Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati pastor's 46-mile walk highlights 'growing crisis' for kids
