- Racial disparities reason for ranking in poverty, By Sarah Chacko, December 13, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Race and location are still the strongest factors in determining whether a child lives in poverty in Louisiana, according to a recent report on the status of the state’s children. In Louisiana, black children are 3.5 times as likely to live in poverty as white children. Poverty rates are highest in rural parishes in northeast Louisiana, along the Mississippi River. However, 2000 census data also show that a majority of black children in every one of the state’s eight largest metropolitan areas lived in a high-poverty neighborhood. Social service experts say government programs have not been expansive enough to fill in the economic and educational gaps…”
- More Kansas kids in poverty, By Cristina Janney, December 12, 2009, Newton Kansan: “Data recently reported by Kansas Action for Children raises concerns about the number of children living at or just above the poverty level in the state. Kids Count is an annual report from data collected by the Kansas Health Institute for Kansas Action for Children. The report indicates almost 40 percent of Kansas children live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The number of children living in lower-class and lower-middle-class homes increased slowly between 2004 and 2008. However, authors of the report noted the data is dated and may not fully reflect the impact of the recession on household incomes…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty