The Annie E. Casey Foundation has released a Data Snapshot on High Poverty Communities, highlighting the growth in the number of children growing up in neighborhoods with high levels of poverty (defined by census tracts with poverty rates of 30 percent or more) around the country and in Wisconsin. As the Snapshot illustrates, the research is clear that growing up poor is always a challenge, but that challenge is made much more difficult when growing up poor in a poor neighborhood and the outlook for children is much less promising.Think about the things you know that contribute to positive outcomes for children – things like access to transportation, reasonable access to family-supporting jobs, safe housing and safe neighborhoods, quality early child care, quality schools, access to health care, neighborhood groceries with healthy and reasonably priced food, and opportunities for children and youth to engage in pro-social positive youth development activities. Now, think about how much more difficult it is for a low income family to access those things when they don’t exist in their neighborhood or community.
Over the last decade, the number of children living in low income neighborhoods nationally has increased by 25 percent, reversing the trend in the prior two decades. In Wisconsin, an estimated 107,000 children live in poor neighborhoods, a 53 percent increase since 2000, twice the national average growth.
According to the Casey analysis, nearly one-half of the children growing up in Milwaukee live in low-income neighborhoods. And, nationally, children of color are six to nine times more likely to live in these neighborhoods than their white peers.
This data begs the question as to what we can be done to change this trend and give all children a chance to grow up in safe and nurturing families and communities. The Casey report provides some examples of promising practices that are worthy of note. But, in Wisconsin and locally we can do more to:
· Invest in quality early learning that gets children to the 4K-12 starting line ready to learn.
· Ensure access to affordable health and dental care so that children get necessary screenings, preventive health and dental care, and treatment.
· Invest in improving the quality of public schools that are accessible to children in low-income neighborhoods.
· Promote fair housing policies that provide opportunities for low-income families to live near where the jobs and other resources are.
· Invest in accessible and affordable transportation options so parents can get to family-supporting jobs.
This is not about some sort of handout to low-income families, for in the end they too make choices and will have to do the heavy lifting to positively impact their future. It is about leveling the playing field and investing our limited resources wisely. The truth is this is not rocket science. We know how to increase the odds of positive outcomes for low-income children living in these neighborhoods, and ultimately for all of us. The question is whether we will make the necessary choices and stand by them during a time of limited resources. By Jim Moeser
