Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Pamela Ogelsby is the Vice President of the West Savannah Community Organization and she knows what it's like to live in poverty. "I’m a disabled person and a disability check is not going to allow me to buy a house," said Ogelsby.   Now Oglesby is working to help other people learn to get help the way she did.

Her West Savannah home was rebuilt with city funding. “It's a brand new home only about 12 years old. But I went through the city's housing department to rebuild that home" said Ogelsby. The Savannah Housing Department is just one of the dozens of organizations at the Step-Up Savannah annual meeting, brainstorming, working together and stepping up to fight poverty.  "Chatham County's poverty rate is six points higher than the national average" said Step Up Savannah Director Daniel Dodd.

And for two years in a row Step Up Savannah has put 60 people to work through it's construction apprentice program. "Part of step up Savannah's mission is to get the people to take more pride in their neighborhoods and turn blighted homes into affordable housing.  You need to have folks from the neighborhood involved in leadership along with business, government, and nonprofit," said Dodd. And learning about the resources that are available the way Pamela Oglesby did. "A lot of the time people don't know where things are, people don't know how to connect these agencies." Yet these agencies are connected to help those in need. Last year, Step Up Savannah's work force action team trained and or placed more than 130 people in jobs.

(Copyright 2008 WJCL 22/ABC, Fox 28/WTGS, The Coastal Source)