Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I currently live in Sandusky oh, lived here all my life. I'm wanting to relocate to Columbus for better paying jobs & an opportunity for my two sons. they are 11 & 4. They are both biracial, myself am Mexican. I cannot get ahead here, I've been working dead end jobs, & temp jobs at a wage of $9.50/hr!!! Im currently looking into any work as an STNA or factory. I have no idea what area is safe in Co!!! its just myself & my boys. I currently pay $500/mo rent for a very small house, also schools aren't great around here(Sandusky). Some people told me to apply for public housing??? I would be scared I would be in n unsafe neighborhood and I heard about a lot of low income places being infested w/bed bugs?? I need as much help as I can get with this relocation!!! any info on a place to rent suitable for my boys & I??? and also STNA OR FACTORY JOBS paying enough for the cost of living for a single mother needing a 2 BDRM?????
I don't know much about factory jobs in Columbus, sorry. You should probably take a look at job searches and see what's available. Columbus is not well-known for manufacturing. It's strengths are in distribution, health, education, finance, government and tech, as well as service/retail/fashion type jobs. There are manufacturing jobs, and probably a lot more of them than in Sandusky, but it's not the strongest industry for the city.
As far as where to live, if you want to stay around your budget of $500/month, that will limit you some. Houses for rent in Columbus are going to be hard to find in all likelihood, so you'll probably want to focus on apartments. What you might try to find is an apartment in Columbus that has schools in a better area, such as Dublin. There are areas within the Columbus city boundaries that have lower rents and taxes, but are under the much better districts, so the best of both worlds. I know the northwest side has some of this, as well as parts of the west side near Hilliard, etc. Still may not be able to find something for $500/month unless you go into the outer suburbs like Hilliard, Westerville, Gahanna or Grove City.
I don't know much about factory jobs in Columbus, sorry. You should probably take a look at job searches and see what's available. Columbus is not well-known for manufacturing. It's strengths are in distribution, health, education, finance, government and tech, as well as service/retail/fashion type jobs. There are manufacturing jobs, and probably a lot more of them than in Sandusky, but it's not the strongest industry for the city.
As far as where to live, if you want to stay around your budget of $500/month, that will limit you some. Houses for rent in Columbus are going to be hard to find in all likelihood, so you'll probably want to focus on apartments. What you might try to find is an apartment in Columbus that has schools in a better area, such as Dublin. There are areas within the Columbus city boundaries that have lower rents and taxes, but are under the much better districts, so the best of both worlds. I know the northwest side has some of this, as well as parts of the west side near Hilliard, etc. Still may not be able to find something for $500/month unless you go into the outer suburbs like Hilliard, Westerville, Gahanna or Grove City.
You're not gonna find a place in Hilliard, Westerville, or any decent suburbs to raise kids with that money.
Anyway OP, I try my best not to be mean, but shame for having two kids when only making that type of money. We aren't miracle workers, and we aren't going to just put you in a good neighborhood. As many people on the forum know, I'm extremely against the idea of having children without enough money to raise them comfortably. $500 per month? You're not going to be living in the Columbus suburbs or "decent" inner-city areas. You're not going to live in Dublin or German Village with that budget, and two kids, really, on near minimum wage? You aren't really gonna have a choice but to send your kids to the worst schools that Columbus has to offer, *gulp* the Columbus City School District. It's pretty bad, actually. They always have big corruption scandals that show up in the Columbus Dispatch, and not too long ago, as I was responding to another thread about inner-city Columbus, a kid slit another kid's throat in that area. On the other hand, the Columbus suburbs have amazing school, but you're not going to be able to send YOUR kids there because there is no open enrollment in the better Franklin County school unless it's intra-district, and you clearly don't have the means to live in such an area. I'm sorry, but you're not gonna find anything decent with $500 in Columbus. My advice, okay? You put yourself in a bad situation, and now you've got to get out of it. I have some good advice for you. It doesn't seem like you have a particular area of work, you know.. like a degree in something where you would need to be in the city, right? That's good for your situation. That means that you are probably willing to work wherever and whatever. I would say move to a rural area like Holmes County, Knox County, or maybe Pike County? They have houses and apartments that you can rent for $300/month, you can work at a local place and maybe work your way up, and you know... You won't be sending your kids to a school where there are bad influences everywhere, and kids try to kill each other. Not a good idea. I will be honest because I want you to be "In the Know" with your decisions. The downside to moving to a rural area is that the students in rural areas (mainly white) don't exactly tend to want to accept or associate with other races, especially when they find out they're in poverty, and trust me, they're gonna find out because everybody knows everything about each other in rural parts of Ohio. The best thing to do would be to get them involved in stuff. I know it costs money, but it takes some money to raise your kids decently, and make them competitive. Maybe you could get a fee waiver? It's not a good situation to be in , either way. Inner-city Columbus would be more accepting, race-wise. Maybe when you have more money, you can think about living in one of the Columbus suburbs, but for now, you need to take the best steps for your own sake, and the safety of your children.
You're not gonna find a place in Hilliard, Westerville, or any decent suburbs to raise kids with that money.
Anyway OP, I try my best not to be mean, but shame for having two kids when only making that type of money. We aren't miracle workers, and we aren't going to just put you in a good neighborhood. As many people on the forum know, I'm extremely against the idea of having children without enough money to raise them comfortably. $500 per month? You're not going to be living in the Columbus suburbs or "decent" inner-city areas. You're not going to live in Dublin or German Village with that budget, and two kids, really, on near minimum wage? You aren't really gonna have a choice but to send your kids to the worst schools that Columbus has to offer, *gulp* the Columbus City School District. It's pretty bad, actually. They always have big corruption scandals that show up in the Columbus Dispatch, and not too long ago, as I was responding to another thread about inner-city Columbus, a kid slit another kid's throat in that area. On the other hand, the Columbus suburbs have amazing school, but you're not going to be able to send YOUR kids there because there is no open enrollment in the better Franklin County school unless it's intra-district, and you clearly don't have the means to live in such an area. I'm sorry, but you're not gonna find anything decent with $500 in Columbus. My advice, okay? You put yourself in a bad situation, and now you've got to get out of it. I have some good advice for you. It doesn't seem like you have a particular area of work, you know.. like a degree in something where you would need to be in the city, right? That's good for your situation. That means that you are probably willing to work wherever and whatever. I would say move to a rural area like Holmes County, Knox County, or maybe Pike County? They have houses and apartments that you can rent for $300/month, you can work at a local place and maybe work your way up, and you know... You won't be sending your kids to a school where there are bad influences everywhere, and kids try to kill each other. Not a good idea. I will be honest because I want you to be "In the Know" with your decisions. The downside to moving to a rural area is that the students in rural areas (mainly white) don't exactly tend to want to accept or associate with other races, especially when they find out they're in poverty, and trust me, they're gonna find out because everybody knows everything about each other in rural parts of Ohio. The best thing to do would be to get them involved in stuff. I know it costs money, but it takes some money to raise your kids decently, and make them competitive. Maybe you could get a fee waiver? It's not a good situation to be in , either way. Inner-city Columbus would be more accepting, race-wise. Maybe when you have more money, you can think about living in one of the Columbus suburbs, but for now, you need to take the best steps for your own sake, and the safety of your children.
That's all pretty harsh and judgmental. You don't know the OP's situation and it's more than presumptuous to just assume they're irresponsible. It sounds like they're making the move to attempt to better their lives and the lives of their children, but they're on a budget for now. Nothing wrong with that at all. No, $500 will not likely get them into the nicest area or the best schools, but that's why they were asking for advice not really knowing the area or options. They weren't asking to have all their life choices criticized by someone who doesn't know them at all.
Also, it's terrible advice to tell them to go live in some rural county. There will be FAR fewer employment options and chances to move upward than there would be in a major city.
And millions of kids have gone to CPS and ended up just fine and without any physical or emotional scars. I'm one of them. I went on to college, graduated and am pretty successful and happy in my life. CPS are certainly not the best district by any means, but a lot of a child's success has to do with parental involvement. I know plenty of teachers within the CPS system and they're very good. The problem tends to not be the school so much as that parents don't care one way or another how their kids are doing, or whether or not they even go. There is no excuse for the attendance scandal, but a lot of that has to do with parents who had/have no idea where their children are... clearly they weren't in school. Be involved and that makes a world of difference in even the worst of districts.
Race has nothing to do with this. BTW, Mexican is not a race. It's a nationality. Mexicans can be ethnically any race... black, white, indigenous, Asian, etc.
That's all pretty harsh and judgmental. You don't know the OP's situation and it's more than presumptuous to just assume they're irresponsible. It sounds like they're making the move to attempt to better their lives and the lives of their children, but they're on a budget for now. Nothing wrong with that at all. No, $500 will not likely get them into the nicest area or the best schools, but that's why they were asking for advice not really knowing the area or options. They weren't asking to have all their life choices criticized by someone who doesn't know them at all.
Also, it's terrible advice to tell them to go live in some rural county. There will be FAR fewer employment options and chances to move upward than there would be in a major city.
And millions of kids have gone to CPS and ended up just fine and without any physical or emotional scars. I'm one of them. I went on to college, graduated and am pretty successful and happy in my life. CPS are certainly not the best district by any means, but a lot of a child's success has to do with parental involvement. I know plenty of teachers within the CPS system and they're very good. The problem tends to not be the school so much as that parents don't care one way or another how their kids are doing, or whether or not they even go. There is no excuse for the attendance scandal, but a lot of that has to do with parents who had/have no idea where their children are... clearly they weren't in school. Be involved and that makes a world of difference in even the worst of districts.
Race has nothing to do with this. BTW, Mexican is not a race. It's a nationality. Mexicans can be ethnically any race... black, white, indigenous, Asian, etc.
I don't believe I called being Mexican a race. I believe they would be considered Latin American. Anyway, I'm going to disagree with some of these things. Slightly off-topic, you don't get into these situations unintentionally. Normally, it takes a slew of bad decisions before it gets really bad. The first part of my post was mainly criticism. The second part was good advice. I mentioned nothing of CPS.. at all. Inner-city school districts are not good at all, and the school buildings are run down. The local McDonald's in rural areas are looking for employees both full-time and part-time positions. That way, she won't be sending her kids to a deprived schools. Rural school aren't much better academically but definitely take away the violence factor for the most part. Suburbs are certainly not an option for her. The rent is also cheaper. $300/month for an entire house with 3 bedrooms.
I don't believe I called being Mexican a race. I believe they would be considered Latin American. Anyway, I'm going to disagree with some of these things. Slightly off-topic, you don't get into these situations unintentionally. Normally, it takes a slew of bad decisions before it gets really bad. The first part of my post was mainly criticism. The second part was good advice. I mentioned nothing of CPS.. at all. Inner-city school districts are not good at all, and the school buildings are run down. The local McDonald's in rural areas are looking for employees both full-time and part-time positions. That way, she won't be sending her kids to a deprived schools. Rural school aren't much better academically but definitely take away the violence factor for the most part. Suburbs are certainly not an option for her. The rent is also cheaper. $300/month for an entire house with 3 bedrooms.
You said that people in rural areas can be racist, implying that being Mexican is a different race than white. Otherwise, why would someone be racist against them??
Latin America is a region and does not reference race, ethnicity or even nationality.
Why would someone intentionally put themselves in bad situations? Making a bad decision is not the same as intention. Sometimes your choices just don't work out how you hoped. This happens to the best of us. I'm sure you've made plenty of poor choices yourself.
You didn't mention Columbus Public Schools? Really? Here's a direct quote: You aren't really gonna have a choice but to send your kids to the worst schools that Columbus has to offer, *gulp* the Columbus City School District. It's pretty bad, actually.
You're seriously suggesting she go work at McDonald's? If you're seriously concerned about her moving up in the world and taking care of her children, then that's probably the worst advice ever. Even McDonald's has more or less stated that no one can actually support themselves on their wages. Maybe a single 15-year-old, but that's not what we're talking about. And it's not like there aren't plenty of urban fast-food locations. Basically, you're criticizing her for not living up to YOUR standards, and then telling her to set her goals as low as possible. Wow.
Suburbs are an option, as are urban apartments. Again, she may not find everything she wants on that budget, but telling her she has to live in Nowhere, USA, is absolutely not true.
You said that people in rural areas can be racist, implying that being Mexican is a different race than white. Otherwise, why would someone be racist against them??
1 Latin America is a region and does not reference race, ethnicity or even nationality.
2 Why would someone intentionally put themselves in bad situations? Making a bad decision is not the same as intention. Sometimes your choices just don't work out how you hoped. This happens to the best of us. I'm sure you've made plenty of poor choices yourself.
3 You didn't mention Columbus Public Schools? Really? Here's a direct quote: You aren't really gonna have a choice but to send your kids to the worst schools that Columbus has to offer, *gulp* the Columbus City School District. It's pretty bad, actually.
4 You're seriously suggesting she go work at McDonald's? If you're seriously concerned about her moving up in the world and taking care of her children, then that's probably the worst advice ever. Even McDonald's has more or less stated that no one can actually support themselves on their wages. Maybe a single 15-year-old, but that's not what we're talking about. And it's not like there aren't plenty of urban fast-food locations. Basically, you're criticizing her for not living up to YOUR standards, and then telling her to set her goals as low as possible. Wow.
Suburbs are an option, as are urban apartments. Again, she may not find everything she wants on that budget, but telling her she has to live in Nowhere, USA, is absolutely not true.
1 Firstly, the beginning of your argument is invalid because you're trying to argue semantics with me. Yeah, formally I guess they would be Hispanic but I didn't realize I was writing a formal essay for my Ph.D.
2 To answer the last part of your question, somewhat yes, I've made a few not-so-great choices (and I'm talking in terms of my academics, not that I did bad things), however, I've never made any mistakes to significantly alter my future. Now.. Why would someone make intentional bad decisions? Good question. It happens all the time. One making near minimum wage and not taking into account what it really takes (money wise) to raise a child properly was most likely intentional. Have you ever considered many individual just don't care?
3 CPS refers to Child Protective Services. CCS is more referenced in Columbus when referring to Columbus City Schools.
"I don't know what is going to happen. You don't know if there is going to be a bunch of fights after school now,” said one concerned family member.
Quote:
The school doesn't have metal detectors and there are no plans for them, either.
A Columbus City Schools spokesperson said the district can't afford them.
Is that really the environment you want your kids to be around, and associating with such students? Inner-city schools are notorious for being bad. Kids there are at or below the poverty line. Their parents can't get them involved in anything because they don't have any money, so a lot of them start doing other things they shouldn't be doing to fill their time. The CCS can't even afford to protect their students, which is essentially what they said. Sure there are exceptions. I'm sure somebody from CCS went to Harvard, but if you're trying to raise your kids based on exceptions, then that's just.. ridiculous.
4 I gave McDonald's as an example. There are many fast food joints in rural areas because that's pretty much all they have. You tend not to see many Longhorns or Applebee's locations unless you go to micropolitans/regional centers (small cities pop. 15K-25K). She decided to have two kids, and she needs to consider their safety before her success. Think about it. If she were alone, then the inner-city would be fine because she wouldn't have to worry about where she is sending her kids. Even if she doesn't want to move to an extremely rural area, she could still move to a place like Delaware, Ohio. It's a small city, they have a good, small city school system with no violence, and there are plenty of different jobs she could find in Delaware. The rent in smaller cities tends to only start at only $300 each month, and that's for a two-story house. It's also perfectly within her budget, and gives her the opportunity to flex with her budget, so she can maybe get her kids involved in something. And no, suburbs are definitely not an option for her at this point. Unless she wants to send her kids to Reynoldsburg, and that's not a good suburb at all. Being in MX City, I would imagine you didn't hear of the Reynoldsburg teacher strike? Well, that and other factors would make me not want to live in Reynoldsburg or Eastern Columbus in general with the exception of New Albany and Canal Winchester. I like urban/suburban areas, but you've got to have the money to live in those areas. Otherwise, it might not be the best choice given the circumstances. It's probably not a good idea to live in New York City when you aren't making a lot of money, and you have kids. You would be sending them to some really bad NYC Public Schools. You can read up on those yourself. It's not pretty, but if you were wealthy, NYC could be the best place ever. You could live near central park in a penthouse, and send your kids to the UNIS (United Nations International School) where they offer the best possible programs, but charge you about $30,000/year to send one student to, so in her case, that would be about $60,000/year.
Also, I disagree with how you criticize what you would call "my standards." In all honesty, I may sound like I have higher standards because of the way that you might have possibly grown up, but be honest, are these really bad standards to have? Let's say you're in a situation that's even worse than the one she's in right now. You have no job at all, you live in a trailer (substandard housing, essentially), and you have six kids. You live in a trailer park, so your kids are growing up around probably not-so-great influences. Their parents don't have enough money to get them started in programs when they're younger, so they don't get any positive influence that's pretty vital during your younger years. It's not like their parents are a positive influence (given they aren't in this situation). Their parents, and the parents around them have a tendency to present bad manners around the children living in that park, so when they're all riding the bus to school (elementary school), they start expressing what they've learned based on how the people around them act. Looking to the opposite side of that, the parents who decided to only have one child, and live in a modest home [$210,000] (to show you don't have to be rich), and decided to utilize their two-income salary to involve this child in extracurricular activities where s/he met kids whose parents have the same ideals as his/her parents, and a positive influence. S/he starts associating with the children of those parents, and they're going to be a group throughout school that end up being in the top 5%, and the other kids I mentioned are likely going to be dragging each other down in the bottom 5%. On one side, you'll have the first set of kids and some of them are just going to get in a little trouble throughout school, and then maybe you'll get one who ends up in Ohio's Youth Protective Services (Kid Prison). Then on the other side, you'll get the other kids. A lot of them will end up going to a good, more selective college [OSU/University of Pittsburgh/University of Michigan, ect.] where they'll lead as examples and get good jobs, and then you'll get a few who go to Harvard or Stanford, and become really successful. So yes, associations are important, too. Then consider all of the other lurking variables that are involved. You have a trailer, and the you have a modest $210,000 house. The modest home has central cooling, room space for the child to work on his/her assignments, the parents have a stable income, vacations are somewhat frequent (they aren't rich, remember), and the proper amenities are up-to-date with today's standards. For example, the child has his/her own television in his/her room (2014 standards average in US). Now, consider the trailer. It has no central cooling. It's very hot during the summer, and they go to school in the summer, and when it's hot outside (you know.. August, September, May, etc.). Their rooms are small and shared. How can someone work in those conditions and do their best when they don't even have a comfortable place to work? I would never put someone through that. Then the parents aren't financially stable, so my assumption would be that they're always fighting over bills, maybe threatening divorce? And the child lives under that constant stress, and how is someone supposed to be successful that way either? Just look at this situation right now. The woman on here is looking to move around Ohio for jobs. This isn't really good for her kids either because if they move around, her kids are never going to be able to settle down somewhere, and do well because they have to live under that constant stress of moving around all of the time, whereas one who stays in one particular area will have a better chance of being more successful. Then, I guess I put vacations in there for some reason, too. Yeah, that's also another thing, although not as big as the other ones. Vacations give the opportunity for the child to relax, explore other cultures, and it gives them something to do. Then with the trailer situation, you have the six kids, and they didn't go anywhere over the summer, and are not involved in anything. What do they do with their time? It's hard to tell, and you probably wouldn't want to find out. I've seen all of this first hand. As a child, I spent a little bit of time in a rural Ohio area, and I could clearly make out the differences between the group of six kids living in one trailer, and the other ones. When you get to the suburbs, like in Columbus.. Yeah, a lot of those parents are that way, and it's slightly more difficult to find kids who didn't want to do anything. It's kind-of rare. Anyway, so yes, it's not just "my standards." It's how you try to think about your children, and give them the best possible opportunity. Remember, they never asked to be in a bad situation, so that's why you've got to think about things. If all parents in this country thought that way, then this country we be in a better situation.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
