Non-Profit Spotlight | Amy Klaben | Strategic Opportunities, LLC

Voice & Vision Annual Celebration Awarding Ms. Maude Hill, Vice President of Community and Government Relations at Homeport photo by Commons Studio © 2015 Columbus, Ohio

All of my life I have been a passionate advocate for women and families as our voices have not been fully heard and our talents fully realized. This is truly a loss to our community–and our country.

I have been privileged to have had a successful career, raise a family in a wonderful community with great schools, and launch my children into healthy, happy adults. I want to live in a world where everyone has the opportunity to prosper as I have and believe that we all benefit by having mixed income neighborhoods where all children, rich or poor or in between, brown, black or white, grow up together, go to school together, and learn from each other. Adults and businesses benefit as well as when people of all backgrounds can live near job opportunities and can participate in the economic fabric of our community.

I am passionate about my work facilitating the new initiative Move to PROSPER as it combines everything that I care deeply about, women, children, and opportunity to reach one’s potential while creatively creating mixed income housing opportunities in high opportunity neighborhoods. Move to PROSPER will provide short term rental support for apartments in high opportunity communities and life coaching to single women in low wage jobs who are working hard to provide the best they can for their children. These families are currently living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty and the women do not have a safety net and other resources. But they do have motivation, grit, and determination. From prior research studies, we know that many women and families will prosper when given the opportunity. That’s what we will do!