Report puts NC in the bottom half of the U.S. for child well-being

Beth Walton | The Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE - A national group put North Carolina in the bottom half of U.S. states for child well-being, something local advocates say needs to change.

The annual Kids Count Data book uses 16 indicators to rank each state across four domains — health, education, economic well-being, and family and community.

The report, released Tuesday, is published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

North Carolina ranked 22nd in education, but placed in the bottom half of states for health, family and community, and economic well-being.

“The economic circumstances in which children grow and learn have a lifelong impact on their health, education, and future economic success,” said Laila A. Bell, director of research and data at NC Child in a statement.

“North Carolina policymakers can and should do more to improve economic well-being for children and families. Increasing public investments in early childhood education, health care, and public schools will create opportunity for children, families and communities across the state.”

Overall, the state ranked 22nd in education, 31st in health, 36th in family and community and 37th in economic well-being. The research examines things like graduation rates, low birth-weight babies, children living in single parent households and child poverty.

NC Child identified three policies that could improve the well-being of children in North Carolina: increased access to health insurance for low-income adults of reproductive age; more investment in early childhood education and programs that reduce or mitigate the negative effects of poverty on child health and development, such as food stamps.

In Buncombe County, rising child poverty rates are threatening this common goal and eroding the community’s health, social and economic potential.

More than one in four children lived in poverty in Asheville in 2015, a number that more than doubled in one year and now surpasses state and national trends.

Child poverty fell 4.3 percent in 2015 in the United States. In North Carolina it dropped 3.4 percent.

In Buncombe the number of children living in poverty also increased from 13.6 percent of youth living below the federal poverty threshold in 2014 to 23.3 percent last year, according to data released by the U.S. Census American Community Survey last September.

Since 2006, child poverty in the county has increased by 50 percent.

The Kids Count findings demonstrate the important role policy decisions – from local to federal – play in health, education, and economic security for children and youths, said Greg Borom, director of advocacy at Children First Communities In Schools of Buncombe County.

"When we offer children and youth a pathway to enter adulthood healthy, educated, and thriving, we all benefit," he said.

City and county officials need to continue to leverage investments in housing affordability, transit, child care and early learning, Borom said. State and federal leaders must not turn away from bipartisan efforts to get more kids insured, enrolled in early learning programs and in a public school system that works for all students.

"Unfortunately, the president’s budget proposal and the NC House and Senate budget proposals are not the best we can do for children," he said. "Our leaders short change children at the expense of lowering taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

"Increasing riches for the few cannot balance the books for the lost potential of over half a million N.C. children facing poverty."

Barriers to upward mobility are entrenched in Buncombe more so than any other Western North Carolina county — and even more than most of North Carolina and the rest of the nation, according to a 2015 Harvard study.

Researchers spent 16 years on the project, producing "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility." The findings confirm decades of anecdotal inclinations — that upward mobility is easier for children living in mixed-income communities, in areas with less segregation by race.

Buncombe County ranked 92nd out of more than 2,400 counties nationwide when it came to the inability of children to move out of poverty.

These numbers have real impact of thousands of locals, said Bill Murdock, executive director of Eblen Charities.

One in five children in our community struggle with hunger each day and many times the meals they receive at school are the only food they will have to eat, he said.

In addition to providing families in need with a host of social and economic support, the nonprofit partners with the Brumit Restaurant Group and the Arby’s Foundation to give away 80,000 meals to Buncombe County students during the summer.

It also joins forces with World Wrestling Entertainment superstars and Ingles Markets to collect food donations to distribute to families in need. This year's Headlock on Hunger Food Drive will be 4:30 a.m.-7 p.m. June 21 at the Ingles on Tunnel Road.

"Summer vacation is the time of year that most students look forward to as homework, tests, and classes give way to sleeping late, swimming, and relaxing days in the sun," Murdock said.

"But, for far too many students, summer vacation means only one thing and that is the fear that they will not have enough to eat during their time away from school."

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According to the Data Book, North Carolina ranks:

22 nd in education . The education domain examines the percentage of children ages 3 and 4 not attending school; fourth graders not proficient in reading; eighth graders not proficient in math; and high school students not graduating on time. The percentage of North Carolina’s fourth graders fell 9 percent from 2010 to 2015, however eighth graders not proficient in math rose 5 percent during that same time period.

31 st in health. The health domain examines data related to number low-birthweight babies; number of children without health insurance; child and teen deaths; teens who abused alcohol or drugs in the past year. A highlight of the Data Book is North Carolina’s improvement in expanding health insurance coverage among children, with only 4 percent remaining uninsured. However, North Carolina ranks 41 st in low-birthweight babies, contributing to the state’s ongoing challenges preventing infant mortality, particularly for children of color.

36 th in family and community domain. This domain examines the percentage of children living in high-poverty areas; single-parent households, education levels among heads of households, as well as teen birth rates. The teen birth rate in North Carolina declined 37 percent since 2010.

37th in economic well-being. The economic well-being domain examines data related to child poverty, family employment, housing costs and whether teens are not in school or working. Although the percentage of North Carolina children living in poverty dropped 8 percent since 2010, the state is in the bottom half of the country in all economic well-being indicators, with its worst rank in child poverty at 37th, tied with Florida .

-Analysis provided by NC Child