The research finds the neediest kids actually tend to live in the richest states.
This line from an editorial in today’s Record pretty much sums up how miserably we are failing the most needy in our society.
According to a story in The Record, a new study
low-income children in New Jersey are in poorer health, exercise less, read less, participate in fewer after-school clubs and teams, and live in more dangerous neighborhoods than most poor children in the country. They are also more likely to be overweight, have asthma, live in a single-parent household, have emotional and behavioral difficulties, and have parents who lack secure employment.
“The distance between the haves and the have-nots in New Jersey is very big,” said William O’Hare, the report’s co-author, a demographer and senior fellow at the philanthropic Annie E. Casey Foundation, which advocates for needy children and families. “There are a large number of kids who aren’t doing very well in the state and need the attention of New Jersey’s leaders.”
Very true — and underscored by this:
The neediest kids tend to live in the richest states, including New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. O’Hare said the findings may reflect the fact that big Northeast cities are home to some of the most concentrated poverty in the country.
Southern states, which are disproportionately poor, ranked far better than many other states in the well-being of their low-income children. Poor children fared best in states such as Utah and North Dakota, perhaps, said O’Hare, because they have a greater sense of community.
This is unconscienable. As Peter Wise, the former director of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, is fond of saying: We live in one of the richest states in the country. That we have such extreme pockets of poverty in places like the state capital is a moral travesty.
Obviously, the state can do more, but so can the feds. And wouldn’t it be nice if someone other than John Edwards talked about the issue seriously on the campaign trail?
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Hank Kalet 