KALAMAZOO, MICH. — The KIDS COUNT Data Book showed 419,000 children in Michigan live in poverty. The 2019 KIDS COUNT report said efforts to improve a child’s well-being in the state continued to fall short.

KIDS COUNT Data Book is considered to be the most comprehensive annual report on child well-being in the U.S. The study said racial inequality was a big factor why Michigan children weren’t getting the support they needed. The research also pointed out the state had one of the highest rates of concentrated poverty of African American kids in the country.

Gwendolyn Hooker is the director of H.O.P.E. Through Navigation (Helping Other People Exceed). Hooker said the data in the annual report was alarming.

“If we’re not taking care of our most vulnerable population, it says a lot about the society that we live in,” said Hooker. “It’s disheartening, it’s very unsettling and disturbing. Unfortunately, it’s not surprising, especially in the state of Michigan.”

The H.O.P.E. director and Kalamazoo native said the issues pointed out in the report have been issues for decades, reasons why she created programming to help make a difference in the Kalamazoo metro area. She said she would like to see more area organizations collaborating together to improve the well-being of children in Kalamazoo, ultimately setting an example for West Michigan and across the state.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to make sure we take care of our children. Otherwise, we’re going to be seeing the repercussions that we’re making today in 20 years,” said Hooker.

The KIDS COUNT report said Michigan children living in high poverty neighborhoods and the amount of low birth weight babies were worse in 2019 than when the national report started 30 years ago. The state ranked 30th in the economic well-being of children. The study showed one in five kids live in poverty because low-income families face high housing costs and most parents don’t have full-time employment.

The state also ranked poorly in education, showing 68% of fourth graders were not able to read proficiently. KIDS COUNT mentioned the poor reading proficiency rate could cause severe consequences for the state once Michigan’s Read By Grade Three law starts next year.

Hooker said she said she hoped to see more organizations working together to make a difference in the lives of children and families.

“Looking at the trends that happen over time in Kalamazoo, a lot of the initiatives and concentrations, although they say they’re for youth and the betterment and improvement, there’s not concentrated effort to actually do comprehensive things that are going to create impact for youth and their families,” said Hooker. “People are doing a lot of work in separate pockets, especially in Kalamazoo. I think we’re at the time where we really need to come together and come up with a comprehensive plan strategically where everyone is really identifying what areas we need to work on locally, and everyone coming together to work on them locally.”

Hooker suggested Kalamazoo city and community leaders work together to look back more than 30 years for the core of the problems listed in the KIDS COUNT report. She said the collaborations could help resolve the issues.

“Peel back those layers to figure out how and why did we get here. And at the end of the day, it comes down to discriminatory practices and racism and health and education and housing. And until we get to the core reason why we’re at where we are right now, we’re just not going to see any changes,” said Hooker.

The study said Michigan was one of 12 states that experienced a decline in child population since 1990. However, the state became more diverse with more kids of color. The national report said it creates an opportunity to address systemic racism. The goal of KIDS COUNT is to provide this yearly information toward better policy-making and the future well-being of children. KIDS COUNT’s full 2019 national report is available online. A news release regarding Michigan’s report was also listed on the website.

Source: WSBT