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underrepresented unless we fight entrenched poverty.”

Poverty and socioeconomic barriers can hinder students in K-12 and beyond, panelists said.

“If they can’t have a decent meal, how are they going to study in the classroom?” said Aminta H. Breaux, president of Bowie State University, a historically black university in Maryland. “If they’re not able to have a roof over their heads, how are they going to learn in a classroom?”

Those minority students who do go on to college often find themselves having to juggle multiple jobs in addition to their studies, Breaux said.

“They’re going out, they’re hustling, they’re getting the resources they need, not just to close the gap for financial need, they’re helping mom and dad, they’re helping their sisters, their brothers, and, yes, they’re trying to pay for textbooks as well,” Breaux said. “They cannot engage in the same way as other students when they have these socioeconomic issues facing them.”

Ohio State President Michael V. Drake joined Sen. Sherrod Brown and Columbus Council President Shannon G. Hardin to give opening remarks ahead of the panel.

“Higher education is often a bridge for people from poverty to the middle class and beyond,” Drake said, touting Ohio State’s efforts to increase need-based aid by $100 million. “Ability is distributed broadly across ZIP codes, but opportunity is not, necessarily. We have to work hard together to do what we can to make sure that opportunity is available to our students, regardless of neighborhood, regardless of ZIP code, regardless of income.”

Support for the families of minority schoolchildren is just as important as supporting the students themselves, panelists said, praising the family resources available to parents at the new I Promise School unveiled this week by basketball superstar LeBron James in Akron.

“Schools have to be more than just hubs for young people. We have to look at them as a place to integrate and support the whole family,” said Erika McConduit, president and CEO of the Urban League of Louisiana. “Our students go back to these families. If we don’t figure out how to empower families to address this crisis with poverty and lack of access to opportunities, then we’re going continue to reiterate the cycle.”

Panelists preached the need for more minority teachers in schools, pointing to research that shows black students who have a black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grades are more likely to go to college and less likely to drop out of high school.

‘We need more black educators in schools — we know that that makes a difference for our kids,” McConduit said.