Louise C. Stokes Scholar House

The Need

The journey to economic prosperity begins at the schoolhouse door, but too many children cross that threshold unprepared for kindergarten. Adults without college degrees often find themselves working low-wage jobs with limited earning potential.

Consider the single parent with two children at home and a full-time job paying minimum wage who earns just over $18,000 a year – more than $3,600 below the federal poverty level for a family of three. Median incomes in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are also not enough to qualify as living wages.

People are often held back from higher paying jobs because of a lack of higher education, and they can’t afford to pay college tuition to make a better life for themselves and their families. It’s a heartbreaking Catch-22.

The Help

The Louise C. Stokes Scholar House will benefit two generations of Greater Clevelanders by helping low-income parents make a way out of poverty for their families through higher education.

The Louise C. Stokes Scholar House will remove barriers to economic opportunity by providing affordable housing and wrap-around services for low-income college students and their children to support educational success and promote economic mobility.

Construction on Scholar House, which will be within walking distance of Cleveland State University (CSU) and Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), begins in Summer 2022 and will open in 2023. Scholar House college students and their families will benefit from several areas of support, including:

Academic amenities for parents and children, from a study space and a computer lab to common space for parenting classes and family activities
Rental support vouchers from the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority
On-site childcare from Step Forward
Academic Support from CSU and Tri-C, including life skills training, academic counseling, and cohort support for first-generation college students
Wrap-around resident services from CHN Housing, United Way and other partners, including mental health counseling and financial literacy education

Learn More

Read about Northern Kentucky Scholar House, the program that inspired United Way to spearhead Cleveland Scholar House.

Learn more about Louise C. Stokes, mother of the late Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes and the late Ohio Congressman Louis Stokes, who showed unwavering support of her children and placed a high importance on education.

Watch the highlight reel from the Louise C. Stokes Scholar House groundbreaking ceremony, attended by partners, funders, elected officials, and members of the Stokes family, on June 15, 2022.