“The state of kids: Poor, and poorer”

The uptick in poverty recently is not a minor problem, and not something that will get fixed easily. The slow economic recovery promises that job growth will remain sluggish and many more families will experience deprivation. Worst of all, the children touched by poverty sometimes will never catch up with their better-off peers.

The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, one of our member organizations in New York state, pointed us to an opinion piece recently in their local paper. Writes the Times Union: “Poverty has a staying quality that can stretch across generations, something New York’s leaders need to remember as they make decisions now about how they spend money, or don’t. The decisions will bear not only on the poor, but on state government and taxpayers who foot the bills for health, food and other programs for the poor.” They report that the rate of child poverty has reached the alarmingly high rates of 40 and 50 percent in some parts of the state.

The Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy is holding a policy forum on poverty next month, “Looking Forward: Improving the Well-Being of Children and Families.” As the political rhetoric heats up this election season, more serious talk about child poverty is exactly what the national discussion needs.