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MARQUETTE -- While Marquette County was ranked 11th for overall child well-being among Michigan counties, there continues to be more children across the state living in poverty than in 2008, according to a study released today by the Michigan League for Public Policy.
Between 2008 and 2015, Marquette County saw its number of impoverished children increase from 16.2 percent to 17.9 percent, a change of roughly 10.5 percent, according to the 2017 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book. Marquette County's 2014 figure was 16.5 percent.
Statewide, more than one in five children lived in poverty in 2015, as the percentage of economically insecure minors went from 19.3 percent in 2008 to 22.2 percent two years ago, an upward change of 15 percent. The state's 2014 figure was 22.6 percent.
The Upper Peninsula saw similar trends for impoverished children, going from 19.6 percent in 2008 to 22 percent in 2015, an increase of 12.6 percent. The U.P.'s 2014 figure was 21.2 percent.
"When we look at the trends over the time period, the poverty rates for kids has stayed pretty high," said Alicia Guevara Warren, Kids Count in Michigan project director at the Michigan League for Public Policy. "While it may have decreased in more recent years, it's not back below 2008 levels where we were in the Great Recession. It's still stubbornly high and not changing much."
The number of children living in poverty across Michigan was 455,357 in 2008 and 481,421 in 2015. In Marquette County it was 1,917 in 2008 and 2,107 in 2015, while the U.P.'s more recent figure was 12,109, up from 11,349 in 2008.
The rates were significantly worse in 2015 for kids of color across the state, with 47 percent of African-American children and 30 percent of Latino kids living in poverty compared to 15 percent for white kids, according to the report.
Though Marquette County and the U.P. saw drops of about 20.2 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively, in the number of young children receiving food assistance benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that figure actually rose by about 2.3 percent statewide.
Meanwhile, the number of students receiving free and reduced-price school lunches has increased across the U.P. and state, as well.
"Those are also indications that we have a lot of people maybe not living at the poverty line, but in families with low income," Guevara Warren said.
Some of the key statewide findings included in the data book are:
– Working a full-time, minimum wage job leaves a parent with a family of three $1,657 below poverty each year.
– Nearly 20 percent of mothers report smoking during pregnancy, with higher rates in rural communities.
– About 31 percent of mothers didn't receive adequate prenatal care throughout their pregnancy.
– Rate of confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect rose by 30 percent from 2008; more than 80 percent of incidents were due to neglect.
– About 10 percent of children in Michigan are impacted by parental incarceration.
– On average, monthly child care consumed 38 percent of 2016 minimum wage earnings.
– Nearly 17 percent of Michigan children live in high-poverty neighborhoods, but the rate is 55 percent for African American kids and 29 percent for Latino children.
"The Michigan League for Public Policy has been fighting to protect Michigan kids since 1912, but child poverty is just as pressing now as it was then," Gilda Z. Jacobs, president and CEO of the league for public policy, said in a press release. "Too many Michigan families are working but barely making ends meet and are one financial emergency away from disaster. Simply having a job is not enough anymore, and we need stronger policies to support workers with low wages and their families."
Some of the key recommendations the Kids Count report makes for policymakers include:
– Promote comprehensive strategies to prevent child abuse and neglect, including the expansion of home visitation programs.
– Ensure access to affordable, quality child care by raising eligibility levels for state child care subsidies and reforming the current system.
– Increase funding for maternal smoking prevention and cessation programs and services.
– Provide sufficient funding for early interventions to improve third-grade reading using a birth-to-eight framework.
– "Raise the Age" of juvenile jurisdiction from 17 to 18 years old.
For more information, visit www.mlpp.org/kids-count/michigan-2/2017-kids-count-in-michigan-data-book.
Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 270. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.