Kids Count Report – Rhode Island

Posted on April 4, 2011 by townsend

• Report: Budget cuts to early childhood intervention programs are taking toll on R.I.’s poor children, By Jennifer D. Jordan, April 4, 2011, Providence Journal: “Rhode Island’s lingering recession has taken its toll on thousands of the state’s most vulnerable citizens – children in low-income families. Deep cuts in recent years to child-care subsidies, welfare cash-assistance for children and state financing for early childhood education programs have tattered their safety net. The 2011 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook, released Monday, finds there are inadequate government supports for many of the state’s 38,600 poor children, particularly during their early years. Just 5 percent of income-eligible children have access to Early Head Start, a federal parenting and early childhood education program to help teen mothers and their infants and toddlers. And only 40 percent of low-income children participate in the federal pre-kindergarten program, Head Start, due to cuts in state subsidies that slashed the number of slots…”
• Progress seen for RI kids, but advocates say much more needs to be done, By Richard Asinof, April 4, 2011, Providence Business News: “Children in Rhode Island saw improvements in health and education, and declines in safety and economic well-being in the last year, according to the 2011 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook. The 17th annual benchmark report on children’s health and well-being, which charts 67 different aspects of children’s lives, was released Monday at a policy breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Providence Warwick in Warwick. The event was attended by more than 500 community and business leaders, including Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras…”