- Kids Count report shows poverty, test scores up in Greater Muskegon area, By Lynn Moore, February 8, 2011, Muskegon Chronicle: “‘Resilient.’ It’s a word educators use to describe students who deal every day with poverty, the stress of job losses in their homes and even neglect, and yet show up to school ready to learn and achieve. Teachers hear the stories about the heat being turned off in students’ homes. They can tell when a student’s day got off to a rough start, even before they walk in the classroom. And they’ve seen the growing lines of children taking advantage of free breakfast programs in school cafeterias. And yet, according to the annual Kids Count report released today, despite worsening conditions in their lives, children’s performance in school is improving. While childhood poverty and the often related incidents of child abuse and neglect are increasing, so are the numbers of students who are passing state assessment tests and staying in school…”
- Poverty, abuse surge among Michigan children, By Catherine Jun, February 8, 2011, Detroit News: “Nearly half of Michigan’s public school students qualified for free and reduced-price lunches in 2009, just one troubling statistic on how the economic crisis has affected the state’s youngest residents. The rate of those who qualified jumped 26 percent in three years, rising to almost 46 percent of children in 2009 from 36 percent in 2006, according to the annual “Kids Count in Michigan” report released today. In Detroit, 81 percent qualified. The lunches, funded by the federal government, are designed for students whose families have gross incomes below $40,200 for a two-parent family of four…”
- More than one-fourth of Saginaw County children living in poverty, By Lindsay Knake, February 8, 2011, Saginaw News: “More than one quarter of Saginaw County children and teens live in poverty. The Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan’s Children partnered for Kids Count, a project to measure the well-being of Michigan children, released state and county data about children’s education and health. Michigan’s Children is a group that works with lawmakers, business leaders and communities to promote children’s prosperity…”
- More kids in Michigan are raised in poverty, By Kathleen Lavey, February 7, 2011, Lansing State Journal: “More kids are slipping into poverty due to Michigan’s fragile economy, putting them at higher risk for abuse and neglect. That’s the word from the new Kids Count in Michigan survey, which compiles data on the well-being of kids and families. ‘Child poverty is such a critical issue,’ said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, project director for Kids Count in Michigan and senior research associate at the Michigan League for Human Services. ‘It has an impact on outcomes for kids across the board…'”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty