Houston leaders address childhood poverty during COVID-19

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- What might be most overlooked in the city of Houston is how underprivileged children are being protected against the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, community leaders across nonprofit, medical and government agencies looked through solutions to keep children living in poverty safe from the coronavirus outbreak.

The virtual summit was hosted by advocacy group Children At Risk.

According to the organization, more than 40 percent of Houston area children are living in poverty.

As of Wednesday, the coronavirus case total in the greater Houston area is nearly 1,200.

One mechanism put into place in Houston includes free meals for children who would usually receive them during school times.

Houston Independent School District announced it would be helping in that effort by relaunching food distribution at select sites starting April 6.

The initial effort had to be stopped after potential coronavirus exposure.

Families in need can participate in the City of Houston's curbside meal program at 50 community centers by visiting this Houston Parks & Recreation Department page.

The video above is from a previous story. A video covering the meeting will be added later today.

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