I don’t know that we need yet one more data point, as we all know things are not only bad, but getting worse for poor people in Washtenaw County, but there’s a new study on “equality of opportunity” out of Harvard that seems to indicate that Washtenaw County is one of the worst counties in the country when it comes to social mobility… In other words, kids who grow up in poverty here are, more likely than not, destined for a life of poverty, whereas, in other communities, they may actually still have a shot at reaching the middle class.

“Consider Washtenaw County, Michigan,” says the New York Times, which covered the report’s findings today. “It’s among the worst counties in the U.S. in helping poor children up the income ladder. It ranks 201st out of 2,478 counties, better than only about 8 percent of counties…”

So, now we don’t just know that our area is the 8th most economically segregated in the country, and that our poor aren’t benefiting for Ann Arbor’s booming knowledge economy, but we also know that we’re doing very little to help young people here escape the grasp of poverty.

We can do better, Washtenaw County. This should not be happening in a community as wealthy, and resource-rich as ours.