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Hosted by the Ohio Governor's Office of Workforce Transformation   and Ohio Excels , the 7th annual AIM HIRE Workforce and Education Conference brought together educators and leaders from across the state for a day of powerful conversations and collaboration. Learn to Earn Dayton's Director of Data and Impact, Emma Smales, presented a session during the conference on the Power of Data to Drive Local & Statewide Outcomes, sharing several of the data dashboards available on our website.

For the past year, Learn to Earn Dayton has partnered with Children’s Funding Project   to develop a fiscal map   for the state. The fiscal map documents and analyzes the various sources of funding that support programs and services for children and youth in Ohio. The map includes public dollars from federal and state sources and will aid state policymakers, regional partnerships, and advocates alike as it provides the first comprehensive view of existing funding streams.  The Ohio fiscal map, which is available to the public, is accessed through a web-based dashboard. Through the dashboard a user can explore trends in funding amounts from fiscal years 2019 to 2023, the breakdown of where funding originates, and details of individual funding streams included in the fiscal map. Users can also search the nearly 500 unique funding streams by type of service or program, age range, funding level, and outcome category. Finally, the map provides a comparison of funding dedicated to children and youth versus state funding for other programs. “The new Ohio fiscal map we’ve developed in partnership with Children’s Funding Project  represents a commitment to both fiscal responsibility and data-driven decision-making,” said Learn to Earn Dayton CEO Stacy Schweikhart. “It provides unprecedented clarity and access to details on funding streams for children and youth, enabling us to move beyond simply dedicating funds and instead focus on getting the greatest return on investment. This tool is about making sure that every dollar is invested strategically and efficiently to deliver the positive outcomes our students and families deserve.” Children’s Funding Project is a nonprofit social impact organization that helps communities, states, and Native nations expand equitable opportunities for children and youth through strategic public financing. By the end of this year, Children’s Funding Project will have created cradle-to-career fiscal maps for 23 states   around the country, utilizing a standard data collection and reporting process. Children’s Funding Project aims to complete maps for all 50 states by the end of 2028, aiding state-level advocates and allowing for cross-state comparisons. This statewide work is made possible by an investment from StriveTogether.  “Budgets are moral documents. Budgets are publicly available documents. But budgets are not easy to read,” said Amelia Vaughn, senior director of fiscal data infrastructure at Children’s Funding Project. “Children and youth fiscal maps examine the full amount of funding for children and youth in each state and make that data easy to decipher for improved decision-making, advocacy, and policymaking. Our goal is to embed fiscal maps as a piece of data infrastructure in each state, keeping them up to date over time so they are relevant and can track trends in funding over time.” Nat Mudd Brooks, Amelia Vaughn, and other representatives of Children’s Funding Project’s fiscal mapping partner organization, Learn to Earn Dayton, will lead a webinar about the Ohio Children and Youth Fiscal Map on Tuesday, October 21 at 11 AM. You can register for the webinar at this link.

Our Civic Leadership Program cohort had the opportunity to hear from several civic leaders during their last session on how local government works. Special thanks to Marty Gehres, Clerk of Court, Dayton Municipal Court, former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin, former Dayton City Manager Valerie Lemmie, and former Dayton City Commissioner, Judge Mary Wiseman for sharing their experience.

Members of the Community Investment Fund cohort had the opportunity to meet with local and national philanthropic partners, sharing their community impact and expanding networks. Special thanks to StriveTogether, Dayton Children's Hospital, AES Ohio Foundation, Frank M Tait Foundation, The Rubi Girls, The Dayton Foundation, PNC Foundation, Wright-Patt Credit Union Sunshine Community Fund, and the Mathile Family Foundation for joining us! More about Community Investment Fund here .

Learn to Earn Dayton had the opportunity to facilitate a breakout session at the Youth Summit earlier this month, sharing the final draft of the My Voice. My City. My Future . Student Vision for Dayton master plan with local students. During the third year of the initiative, Learn to Earn Dayton will partner with the City of Dayton to develop implementation strategies and recommendations to ensure the plan's long-term sustainability and establish a framework for its ongoing advancement.

Team L2ED, alongside regional partners Omega CDC and Preschool Promise, Inc., were in Atlanta this week at the StriveTogether Cradle to Career Network Convening. It was an incredible opportunity to learn from and network with peers from across the country. We were proud to represent the Dayton region by leading several presentations and sharing our best practices with the network. Our collective work is making a difference, and it's an honor to showcase it on a national stage. Excited to bring these new insights back to the community!

When a family faces eviction, virtually everything is at stake: their physical and mental safety, health, education, family arrangements, and jobs. They are expected to navigate the situation on their own while dealing with a complex court process; one that often proceeds from beginning to end in as little as a month. A massive imbalance of power between landlords and tenants (83% of landlords have legal counsel, while only 4% of tenants are able to secure representation) has transformed evictions into a pro forma procedure devoid of due process. The Access to Counsel program is designed to combat high eviction rates in Dayton, Ohio, by offering free legal counsel and social services to families facing eviction, with a focus on families of school-aged students. From November 2024 to July 2025, the program was successfully piloted in Northwest Dayton, serving 53 households, demonstrating its effectiveness in a variety of ways: preventing eviction filings, negotiating favorable outcomes, and connecting clients to vital resources like rental assistance and utility support. Based on our initial evaluation, in 77% of cases, attorneys found potential affirmative defenses. This demonstrates many tenants have legitimate legal grounds to challenge their evictions (e.g., poor conditions, improper late fees) but lack the resources to do so. The program is expanding its scope to serve any resident of the City of Dayton with a school-aged child facing eviction. In collaboration with the Dayton Municipal Court, we are working to develop a new student eviction prevention database to proactively identify and offer services to at-risk families. The pilot will continue until a total of 125 households are served, which will provide the data necessary for a comprehensive Return on Investment (ROI) report. This report will quantify the long-term cost savings of eviction prevention, empowering partners to scale the program as a sustainable, system-level solution. The cross-sector team working to bring Access to Counsel to the community includes Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE), CityWide, Dayton Clerk of Courts, Omega CDC, and Stout. Support for the program has been provided by Blue Meridian Partners, the Dayton Legal Heritage Foundation of The Dayton Foundation, AES Ohio Foundation, and the Wright-Patt Credit Union Sunshine Community Fund.

Learn to Earn Dayton is currently hiring for a coordinator position to support strategic initiatives. This position is part of the team working to increase economic mobility and reduce disparities in student outcomes. Position Summary The Strategic Initiatives Program Coordinator provides administrative, program planning and implementation support for Learn to Earn Dayton’s strategic initiatives. The Coordinator is responsible for engaging stakeholders to facilitate program networks and collaborative partnerships. The Coordinator supports the Learn to Earn Dayton team’s innovative strategies to increase academic, economic and social mobility for students and families in Montgomery County. Apply to jobs@learntoearndayton.org . Resume review will begin September 12.

Have you ever found yourself searching for reliable data on outcomes like financial stability, health and wellness, thriving neighborhoods, or educational achievement across Dayton and Montgomery County? Whether you're working on a grant application, developing a new partnership proposal, or advocating for dedicated resources to address neighborhood challenges, accessible data is essential. Learn to Earn Dayton is proud to provide the new Community Outcomes data dashboard . It's built to be your go-to source for understanding the nuanced landscape of our community's progress. It's now freely accessible on our website, serving as a comprehensive tool for all partners, residents, and students to empower informed decision-making. Originally created as a resource for the Montgomery County Two-Generation Collaborative to track progress connected to their efforts to support families, Learn to Earn Dayton is pleased to make this dashboard available for all members of the community working toward improved outcomes. This dashboard uses population measures from publicly-available data sets to provide a snapshot and trend analysis in four key categories -- financial stability, thriving neighborhoods, educational success, and family health & wellness.  “Our new Community Outcomes data dashboard is designed to give our partners and community members easy access to data that helps them to make a difference,” said Stacy Schweikhart, CEO of Learn to Earn Dayton. “It's a resource for our entire community to see what's working and where we need to focus our efforts. Our hope is that nonprofit agencies, neighborhood residents, elected officials, philanthropic partners, and educational organizations can all use this shared data to guide our decisions and work together toward a better future for all students."  Montgomery County’s Two-Generation Collaborative   (2Gen) is a collection of service providers and community members committed to breaking the cycle of poverty in Montgomery County by fostering a collaborative, community-driven system that utilizes a two-generation approach to empower families and achieve lasting, positive change in their economic, educational, and social well-being. Co-Chaired by Nancy McHugh from the University of Dayton Fitz Center, the recent 2Gen Strategic Plan provides a stronger framework for overlap and collaboration among organizations focused on improving social and economic mobility within local communities. “For years, member organizations of 2Gen have worked diligently, bringing best practices to youth and families in our neighborhoods,” said McHugh. “Individually, we tracked programmatic success, but as a Collaborative, we’ve always had the vision of seeing how our combined efforts are improving the quality of life for residents. We’re very excited about the Community Outcomes Dashboard, because we can see where we’re succeeding and where the gaps still exist.”  The release of the Community Outcomes Data Dashboard follows Learn to Earn Dayton's launch of the Statewide Academic Data Dashboard earlier this year. That dashboard provides information where users can view data specific to each of Ohio’s 611 School Districts, allowing users to explore critical data points, disaggregate by population, and reveal best practices through district comparison and explore data related to educational outcomes and postsecondary success for students across the state.  Learn to Earn Dayton’s data dashboards are available at learntoearndayton.org/data . Learn to Earn Dayton encourages families, educators, policymakers, and anyone interested in the region’s educational and workforce landscape to explore the data and utilize these tools to inform their work. Learn to Earn Dayton’s efforts in data transparency have been made possible by StriveTogether, Blue Meridian Partners, and local philanthropic investments.

Get ready to be inspired! Learn to Earn Dayton Communications Intern, Caitlyn Russell, is sharing exclusive stories from the recipients of our Community Investment Fund. Discover the innovative ways these investments are shaping a brighter future for Dayton. In Northwest Dayton, Youth House Inc . is empowering youth of color and building community strength through culturally grounded programs, essential resources, and safe, affirming spaces. The organization is shifting narratives, especially for Black boys and young men, with a bold, community-powered approach to youth development. From mentoring programs to resource distribution, Youth House Inc. is cultivating ecosystems of care where healing, leadership, and opportunity thrive. Youth House Inc. is excited about the opportunity to invest in young people who are too often overlooked. “Youth of color—especially Black boys—are one of our most valuable, untapped resources. We get to support them directly and also uplift the people and organizations fighting every day to pour into them.” said Thomas Scroggens, executive director of Youth House. The organization is a bridge, connecting young leaders to essential tools like equipment, funding, and collaborative partnerships. Through this program, community leaders can focus on serving youth of color with creativity, care, and purpose. Support from Learn to Earn Dayton’s Community Investment Fund (CIF), made possible by Blue Meridian Partners and local philanthropic organizations, has been a turning point in Youth House Inc’s journey. With CIF’s financial and peer learning support, Youth House was able to make critical investments in both direct services and long-term infrastructure. The launch of a two-tiered Community Resource Closet has given immediate support for families. The first tier delivers urgent care packages, with essential hygiene items, school supplies, and food, directly addressing personal needs. The second tier acts as a force multiplier for local programs, providing shared access to vital tools like tablets, projectors, tents, and cameras. This innovative model strengthens the entire network of youth-serving organizations. Beyond programmatic expansion, the CIF support has enabled Youth House Inc. to secure two physical spaces: a public-facing office hub and a dedicated private-partnership site. These spaces provide consistency and visibility for their impactful work, serving as stable anchors for their youth programs and coalition efforts. As Scroggins shares, "These spaces have helped us stabilize and scale. They’ve become a launching pad for even deeper, more creative investments in our community’s future." Looking ahead, Youth House Inc is launching The Kingmaker Institute, an initiative designed as a pipeline of support and leadership for young men of color, starting from birth and continuing through early adulthood. The Kingmaker Institute will bring together educators, mentors, childcare providers, artists, and small businesses to provide culturally responsive programming, mentorship, and opportunity under one roof. “Our goal is for Kingmaker to be a grassroots-led engine for healing, growth, and leadership. This work is urgent—and we’re ready to build it,” said Scroggins. The Kingmaker Institute represents a bold step forward in Youth House’s mission to create thriving futures. The organization plans to support up to 1,500 youth annually, expanding access mentorship, leadership, and resources. Youth House Inc. is about creating space for young men to be seen, to heal, to lead, and to grow.

Learn to Earn Dayton has aligned with community partners to implement an Access to Counsel eviction prevention   pilot program in Dayton, with specific geographic focus in Northwest Dayton. This Access to Counsel  pilot program provides legal representation and wrap-around services for up to 125 families in Northwest Dayton over the period of one year, launching November 12, 2024. The program has been designed leveraging the national expertise of Stout, and will be implemented by local legal aid organization, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE). Support for the program has been provided by Blue Meridian Partners and the Dayton Legal Heritage Foundation of The Dayton Foundation, with support from the Wright-Patt Credit Union Sunshine Fund.  City of Dayton Commissioners with Access to Counsel partners after a presentation on the pilot program Access to Counsel  will meet the varied needs of tenants, providing both legal representation and social work, education, and empowerment. While the underlying goal is eviction prevention, the outcome could look different depending on the tenant’s needs. A key aspect of this pilot is the data tracking and comprehensive evaluation, as the team works to determine how to scale to program to a larger geography and track if eviction prevention now may lead to greater economic mobility.   Eviction rates are proven to significantly impact family economic mobility, neighborhood stability, and student success. It is especially detrimental to students, as housing instability is the greatest predictor of students' chronic absenteeism from school; in 2023, 63% of students experiencing homelessness were chronically absent from school. Even with these negative ramifications well recognized, tenants in Montgomery County have no right to legal counsel when facing eviction.  “Housing is a clear imperative and one that was lifted up by Northwest Dayton residents in the Power of Place Plan,” said Learn to Earn Dayton CEO Stacy Schweikhart. “It is the greatest predictor of students' chronic absenteeism from school. Learn to Earn Dayton is excited to work in partnership with ABLE and our community partners to help address housing instability in Northwest Dayton which threatens the safety of the most vulnerable populations.” Watch the Access to Counsel presentation to City of Dayton Commission, held on October 23, 2024. According to data compiled by the Ohio Supreme Court, landlords filed 13,142 eviction actions in Municipal Courts in Montgomery County from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2023. This means that 126 tenants per week, on average, are being served with eviction court papers in Montgomery County. According to data from the City of Dayton Clerk of Courts office, over 3,000 evictions were filed in the Dayton Municipal Court in 2023 with 48% of those eviction filings occurring in just two Northwest Dayton zip codes: 45405 and 45406.   There is a significant imbalance of power with 83% of landlords being represented by an attorney and only 4% of tenants being able to secure one. Other cities and states have adopted policies to guarantee legal representation, dramatically reducing eviction rates with nearly 90% of tenants winning their cases. Right to counsel policies have also led to cost savings for the jurisdictions in reduced health/human service expenses.  “ Access to Counsel  is a critical tool in addressing the housing crisis, reducing homelessness, and increasing housing stability for tenants in Northwest Dayton,” says ABLE Senior Attorney Debra Lavey. “ABLE is excited to take a holistic approach to advocacy through a team of an attorney, social worker, and community organizer to address this systemic issue here in our community. We are grateful for Learn to Earn Dayton’s partnership in this Access to Counsel  pilot project.” Beginning November 12, any tenants facing eviction living in Northwest Dayton (zip codes 45405 and 45406) with a household income below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, pregnant or have children living in the home are encouraged to apply directly or through a referral agency for ABLE’s services through the Legal Aid Line intake line at 1-888-534-1432 or www.legalaidline.org ; or visit ABLE’s Dayton office at 130 West Second Street, Ste. 700, Dayton, Ohio 45402.  ### About Learn to Earn Dayton: Learn to Earn Dayton is the regional cradle-to-career intermediary organization, leveraging data, policy, and partnerships to improve student outcomes along the educational continuum with the goal of increasing the number of students who earn a college degree or marketable credential. Learn to Earn Dayton serves the community as a convener, collaborator, innovator, and incubator, centering youth voices and driving for solutions that can improve our local communities. More information at learntoearndayton.org .  About ABLE: Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE) is a nonprofit law firm established over 50 years ago to ensure that the most vulnerable people in our communities have the same access to justice as people and companies that can afford to retain an attorney. ABLE and its partner law firm, Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO), are the only law firms available for comprehensive legal representation in non-criminal matters for more than 385,000 people living, working, and raising their families in poverty in Northwest and West Central Ohio. ABLE advocates for – and with – financially disadvantaged individuals and communities to effectuate just and equitable policy changes that address the structural causes of poverty and to protect their right to fairness and justice in the legal system. More information at www.ablelaw.org .

Get ready to be inspired! Learn to Earn Dayton Communications Intern, Caitlyn Russell, is sharing exclusive stories from the recipients of our Community Investment Fund. Discover the innovative ways these investments are shaping a brighter future for Dayton. Hatch Architects Design Center is opening doors for students in Dayton by introducing them to architecture through real-world experiences. Since its founding in 2020, the nonprofit has focused on increasing diversity in the architecture profession by engaging students in innovative design-build programs. Through the program, Hatch Architects inspire them to explore new career paths and see themselves as future designers. Over the past three years, Hatch has been supported by Learn to Earn Dayton’s Community Investment Fund (CIF), backed by Blue Meridian Partners and local philanthropic organizations. Before receiving the grant, Hatch led small-scale design workshops using materials such as blocks and Legos. The CIF funding has significantly expanded their capabilities, allowing them to implement full build projects, hire more staff, and run multi-week design-build workshops for children of all ages. Alex Bohler, founder of Hatch Architects Design Center, shared the difference this funding has made, “kids deserve to know this career exists—and that they can do it too.” Hatch Architect's summer camp is located at the Dayton Metro Library Northwest branch and offers hands-on, design-build experiences for students of all ages, with week-long sessions for grades K–6 and a two-week intensive for teens. The teen program includes a design week followed by a build week with support from a certified carpenter. Last year, the K-6 programs served 33 students who built functional birdhouses and mini/travel-sized cornhole games. Teen program participants were able to design and construct a playhouse for the Dayton Metro Library that provided a much-needed shaded area for the children and they completed a table with seating at heights suited for everyone. This year, they began by interviewing the library staff to better understand their needs, then applied those insights to design and build mobile tack boards, book carts, and oversized games for indoor and outdoor use. “Many students don’t realize architecture and related fields are career options. It’s hard to pursue a path you’ve never heard of,” said Alex. A core mission of Hatch Architects is to increase diversity within the architecture profession. Currently, only 27% of licensed architects are women, about 2% are Black, and 1% are Black women. Hatch Architects is working to help those numbers grow by providing early exposure and hands-on experience. In 2024 alone, nearly 400 students participated in Hatch programming. Of those, approximately 75% identified as Black/African American, 18% as White, and 2% as Latinx. Among participants who reported gender, 45% were female and 55% male, showing meaningful progress toward a more inclusive and representative future in design. Hatch Architects Design Center has expanded its outreach to college students as well. Currently, there are two college students, two recent college graduates, and two industry professionals who work as program specialists throughout the summer. “You learn best when you teach someone else,” said Aiden Davey, an architectural technology student at Sinclair Community College, who emphasized the knowledge gained by working with children, and discussed the opportunities that Alex has given the student workers. The program has seen strong demand - the latest summer camp had a wait-list of 30 teens and all three sessions were at capacity. Looking ahead, Hatch is exploring ways to expand its reach; through other summer camp programming, after-school partnerships, and collaborations. For many students, the impact goes beyond career plans, just discovering that architecture is an option can be transformative. “We’ve had teens say, ‘I didn’t even know what an architect was, and now I’m interested,’” shared Alex. As one of the few female-led architecture programs in the region, Hatch Architects is not only shaping physical spaces, it’s inspiring a new generation of designers, leaders, and community builders across Dayton.