skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Louisiana teachers' union concerned about educators' future; Supreme Court hears arguments in Trump immunity case; court issues restraining order against fracking waste-storage facility; landmark NE agreement takes a proactive approach to CO2 pipeline risks.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Speaker Johnson accuses demonstrating students of getting support from Hamas. TikTok says it'll challenge the ban. And the Supreme Court dives into the gray area between abortion and pregnancy healthcare, and into former President Trump's broad immunity claims.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

More VA Kids Growing up in Poor Neighborhoods

play audio
Play

Wednesday, February 29, 2012   

RICHMOND, Va. - The number of children living in high-poverty communities has increased by 25 percent during the last decade, according to a new KIDS COUNT report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Laura Speer, the foundation's associate director of policy reform, says children in these neighborhoods face challenges in almost every aspect of their lives which make it less likely they'll reach their full potential as adults.

"Harmful levels of stress. They're more likely to have behavioral and emotional problems. They have more trouble in school, have lower test scores."

She says communities or neighborhoods are considered "high-poverty" if 30 percent or more of the residents live below the federal poverty line.

The number of Virginia children in poor neighborhoods also has increased - by 27 percent. Marco Grimaldo, president of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, says that can have an impact in unexpected ways.

"In some parts of this state, there are just not good grocery stores in some neighborhoods. We know there are 'food deserts' that have an impact on how families are able to provide food for their kids."

Speer says it's interesting to note that about 75 percent of children living in areas of concentrated poverty have at least one parent in the workforce. Even so, she says, those families are still at risk in a variety of ways.

"Living in an area of concentrated poverty limits the opportunities that families have available to them in order to get a better job, in order to make sure that the health and the welfare of their children is taken care of."

The full report is online at AECF.org.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The United Nations experts also expressed concern over a Chemours application to expand PFAS production in North Carolina. (Adobe Stock)

play sound

United Nations experts are raising concerns about chemical giants DuPont and Chemours, saying they've violated human rights in North Carolina…


Social Issues

play sound

The long-delayed Farm Bill could benefit Virginia farmers by renewing funding for climate-smart investments, but it's been held up for months in …

Environment

play sound

Conservation groups say the Hawaiian Islands are on the leading edge of the fight to preserve endangered birds, since climate change and habitat loss …


Jane Kleeb is director and founder of Bold Alliance, an umbrella organization of Bold Nebraska, which was instrumental in stopping the Keystone Pipeline. Kleeb is also one of two 2023 Climate Breakthrough Awardees. (Bold Alliance)

Environment

play sound

CO2 pipelines are on the increase in the United States, and like all pipelines, they come with risks. Preparing for those risks is a major focus of …

Environment

play sound

April has been "Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month," but the pests don't know that. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it's the …

Legislation to curtail the union membership rights of about 50,000 public school educators in Lousiana has the backing of some business and national conservative groups. (wavebreak3/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Leaders of a teachers' union in Louisiana are voicing concerns about a package of bills they say would have the effect of dissolving labor unions in t…

Health and Wellness

play sound

The 2024 Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium Public Conference kicks off Saturday, where industry experts and researchers will share the latest scientific …

Environment

play sound

Environmental groups say more should be done to protect people's health from what they call toxic, radioactive sludge. A court granted a temporary …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021