skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, July 26, 2024

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

Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

Minnesota Ranks in Top States for Child Well-Being

play audio
Play

Wednesday, June 27, 2018   

ST. PAUL, Minn. – As a national rating of child well-being is released today, Minnesota is acknowledging its fourth-place ranking among the states – while at the same time, it is determined to address chronic disparities in outcomes for children of color.

Minnesota has consistently ranked among the top states in the annual Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT Data Book, which assesses children's outcomes related to health, education, safety and economic stability.

Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota Executive Director Bharti Wahi says the state's high ranking tells only part of the story.

"The state has a strong understanding that investments in children pay off," Wahi states. "Where we continue to have concerns is that, while white children's outcomes remain strong, the disparities are experienced by children of color and American Indian children are significant – and actually, in fact, some of the worst in the country."

Among the Data Book's main indicators, Minnesota was fifth in economic well-being, noting a significant decline in families spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Minnesota also has seen a decline in its number of uninsured children, and a 43-percent drop in teen birth rates since 2010.

A new concern raised this year in the report is the possible under-count of children in the upcoming 2020 Census. Those numbers are important because roughly 300 federal programs use census-derived data to allocate more than $800 billion a year.

Laura Speer, associate director for policy reform and advocacy at the Casey Foundation, says a major census under-count could result in overcrowded classrooms, shuttered Head Start programs and more kids without health care.

"It's important to make sure that groups like childcare providers, churches, schools and libraries are places where people feel safe to fill out the census form," Speer says.

It's estimated about 4.5 million young children live in neighborhoods where there's a high risk of missing them in the census count. Wahi emphasizes that Minnesota is not exempt from the problem.

"The number of children [ages] zero to four living in hard-to-count households is about 22 percent, in the City of Minneapolis alone," she says.

Minnesota's fourth-place ranking for child well-being was behind East Coast states New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and ahead of neighboring Iowa in fifth place.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
According to the Tax Policy Center, for higher-income earners, sales taxes consume a lower share of their income than for other households. (Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

As Nebraska state lawmakers convene for a special session on property tax reform called by Gov. Jim Pillen, groups are weighing in on the details …


play sound

Traveling around rural Minnesota can be difficult but in more than half the state, nonprofit transit systems are helping people get where they need …

Social Issues

play sound

Student loan forgiveness took center stage on Thursday at the American Federation of Teachers conference. The Biden administration has canceled more …


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has introduced legislation to codify the Chevron Deference into law. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation. Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in …

Health and Wellness

play sound

World Hepatitis Day is this Sunday, and for the Oregon Health Authority, it's an opportunity to promote its plan to eliminate hepatitis across the …

The Gender Shades project revealed facial recognition performed poorest for darker-skinned women, and performed best for lighter-skinned men. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Columbia County, New York, is implementing new facial recognition and privacy policies, following new upgrades to the county's surveillance cameras…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New York disability-rights advocates are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 …

Social Issues

play sound

As summer winds down and North Carolina students prepare to return to school, the focus shifts to the urgent need for better public education funding…

 

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