Photos by Scott Cunningham Photography
Between her work and community involvement, Janet Jackson is part of a vast number of service initiatives in central Ohio, but one goal pervades every single one: getting people out of poverty.
Jackson is president and CEO of the United Way of Central Ohio and has been since 2003. Prior to that point, she spent six years as Columbus City Attorney and almost a decade as a Franklin County Municipal Court judge, and was part of the local United Way’s board from 1988 to 1999.
Education is a huge part of Jackson’s goals. When she was a judge, she saw firsthand the consequences of a lack of educational opportunity – many defendants who came into her court lacked basic skills and the education to do such things as obtain a driver’s license – and of poverty.
“I wanted to be part of the solution in getting at the root causes,” Jackson says.
Poverty, she says, is a bigger problem in central Ohio than some people realize. A recent Columbus Partnership report indicated one in five families in Franklin County lives in poverty – in suburbs as well as urban areas.
“Many times, people think of this as an inner-city problem, but it’s not,” says Jackson.
Jackson is a big proponent of early childhood education initiatives as a means to improve graduation rates and career aspirations.
“Too many of our children are failing in this community, and we need to do something about it,” she says.
The United Way of Central Ohio funds a number of early childhood centers, each of which is required to have national or state accreditation to quality, and establishes a level of excellence for their young attendees.
It’s also partnered with a number of other local organizations to establish Columbus Kids: Ready Set Learn, which offers simple tools to assess children’s kindergarten readiness. If the assessment mechanism determines a child is struggling, teachers or parents will know where to go for intervention, and can re-assess the child every six months to determine his or her progress.
Another United Way endeavor of which Jackson is particularly proud is the Women’s Leadership Council, which assists women – ages 18-40 and having a high school diploma or a GED, as well as work history – who cannot make enough money to take care of themselves and their families. The program helps the women obtain training so they can move on to careers that pay more sustainable wages.
Still another favorite program is Stable Families, which helps struggling families stay in their homes – thus avoiding disrupting their children’s education by moving – by linking them to resources they might not otherwise be aware of.
A native of Randolph, Va., Jackson came to Ohio to study at Wittenberg University. Though she then headed to George Washington University to obtain her law degree, her time in the area convinced her Columbus would be a good place for a young, black, female lawyer.
With the exception of a short stint in Cleveland, she’s been in Ohio’s capital since 1978. Her mother and four siblings now live here as well, and her son, Harrison Sewell, attends Wittenberg.
Garth Bishop is editor of CityScene Magazine. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
SIDEBAR
How to Help
The holiday season tends to put people in a giving mood, and the United Way of Central Ohio encourages those people to consider its programs when determining which efforts they will support.
Online giving via the United Way’s website, www.liveunitedcentralohio.org, is one option. The organization can also link interested individuals to local service organizations, such as homeless shelters and the YWCA, for hands-on work.
For more information, visit the website or call 614-227-2700.
