17 May City Council Backs Poverty Initiative
The Fayetteville City Council endorsed a comprehensive action plan Monday night for an initiative that seeks to pull Fayetteville’s poorest residents out of generational poverty.
The initiative, called Pathways for Prosperity, will focus on 11 of the poorest communities in Fayetteville and Cumberland County. Its goal is to improve opportunities and resources in five focus areas — preschool, public education, affordable housing, life skills and workforce alignment.
The initiative is being directed by Councilman Larry Wright and former Councilman Kirk deViere, who said his enthusiasm for the project began with a 2015 Harvard University study that ranked Fayetteville dead last of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in terms of children being able to climb the economic ladder when they become adults.