THE HIGH MORAL AND ECONOMIC COST OF CHILD POVERTY IN AMERICA
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN — 24/SEP/2014
Just released U.S. Census Bureau data reveal 45.3 million people were poor in America in 2013. One in three of those who are poor is a child. Children remain our poorest age group and children of color and those under five are the poorest. More than one in five infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were poor during their years of greatest brain development and vulnerability. Black children saw no decrease and continue to have the highest child poverty rates in the nation. In 20 states more than 40 percent of Black children were poor and nearly one in five Black children were living in extreme poverty with an annual income of less than half of the poverty level or $33 a day for a family of four.
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It is a moral disgrace that child poverty in the U.S. is higher than adult poverty, higher than for children in almost all other competitor nations, and higher than our country with the world’s largest economy should ever allow. Wealth and income inequality are still at record high levels and opportunity gaps are widening. What values and priorities do these unjust realities reflect? Isn’t it time to reset our moral and economic compass? If we want to build a strong workforce, military, and economy and ensure the most basic tenets of opportunity for the most vulnerable, we must and can end child poverty now.
Poverty hurts children and destroys their dreams, hopes, and opportunities. Poor children are more likely to go hungry, which is associated with lower reading and math scores, greater physical and mental health problems, higher incidence of emotional and behavioral problems, and a greater chance of obesity. Poor children are less likely to have access to affordable quality health coverage, have more severe health problems, and fare worse than higher income children with the same problems. A poor child with asthma is more likely to be reported in poor health, spend more days in bed, and have more hospital episodes than a high-income child with asthma. Poor children suffer a 30 million word interaction gap by age 3 and are less likely to enter school ready to learn and to graduate from high school. One study found children who were poor for half of their childhood were nearly 90 percent more likely to enter their 20s without completing high school than never poor children.
“Child poverty is a moral blight on America. That children are the poorest, most vulnerable age group is disgraceful and we must protect them with a national floor of decency. Children of color and those under six during the years of rapid brain development are the poorest. Five years into the recovery poor children in the majority of states still have not benefited. We need to make sure political leaders asking for our votes this campaign season make voiceless, voteless children a priority. If we want to build a strong workforce, military and economy, we can and must end child poverty now.” —Marian Wright Edelman
Read More:http://www.empowermagazine.com/high-moral-economic-cost-child-poverty-america/
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Thank you~
Cha!
And, the list goes on..
https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/washington-state-votes-mail-approve-referendum-74
I will do a donation, small as I don't have much to spare. At Christmas, we draw names for gifts to cut down the spending. Then we match a dollar amount and all chip in for a charity that we agree to. This is the one I will push this year.
Thank you theHandpuppet. You should make this an OP, sadly mine never went anywhere. 
policy-makers gladly accept to implement their obscene vision of the new American century (PNAC). The fruits of their handi-work glistens across the land from sea to shining sea, marked by a deteriorating infrastructure. 
