A report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation found Latino children are the least likely to live in poverty in West Virginia.
The Race for Results report, from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, standardizes scores across 12 indicators representing well-being milestones to measure aspects of health from the child’s infanthood to adulthood and converting them into a scale ranging from 0 to 1,000.
Latino children scored highest in West Virginia with a score of 568. West Virginia children of two or more races had a score of 513. White children came in third place with a score of 509. Black children came in last place with a score of 417 out of a possible 1,000.
In West Virginia, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander races results were suppressed. This means the data pool was so small, that releasing it would identify the participants.
Leslie Boissiere, the vice president of external affairs at the foundation, said West Virginia’s high school graduation rates are above the national average, but other indicators are below the national average.
“There are some some areas where West Virginia has done well,” Boissiere said. “But in the area, beyond high school, as well as looking at the rate of poverty for all kids of all racial and ethnic groups. It’s an area where the state is underperforming compared to the nation as a whole.”
According to Boissiere, a child tax credit could help the poverty rate in West Virginia.
“We know that based on the data and the evidence, it is an effective way,” Boissiere said. “Medicaid expansion is another way that we know is effective, allowing kids to remain in foster care beyond the age of 18 to ensure that those kids have a higher likelihood of graduating from high school on time, and also earning a post-secondary degree and being financially stable. So we have evidence of some programs that have been effective in lifting kids out of poverty, and those should be effective for the state legislature to consider as well.”
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.
Save the Children’s newly-launched Rural Child Hunger Research and Innovation Lab program aims to improve access to food in hard-to-reach rural communities like Mercer County.
The program aims to improve access to food in hard-to-reach rural communities like Mercer County.
Mountaineer Food Bank received $100,000 to help provide fresh and shelf-stable foods to food insecure children and families through a ride-share delivery service.
Chad Morrison, CEO of Mountaineer Food Bank, said in a release the funding will be put to good use.
“The $100,000 grant funding from Save the Children will help improve food access barriers across rural communities in West Virginia,” Morrison said. “We are incredibly grateful to receive these funds, as it will help us better serve our food insecure neighbors, children, and families.”
Betsy Zorio, vice president of U.S. programs for Save the Children said the program will help ensure children in rural communities can thrive.
“Geographic isolation, lack of transportation, and limited access to stores with fresh food are making it very difficult for many rural families to give their children the nutritious meals they need to grow and develop,” Zorio said.
Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. counties with the highest food insecurity rates are classified as rural.
A recent survey indicates currently, one in five rural children are facing hunger.
The Board heard public comment from two individuals concerned with disciplinary issues in the state’s schools, as well as an update on their own disciplinary report.
Early in its Dec. 14 meeting, the West Virginia Board of Education heard public comment from two individuals concerned with disciplinary issues in the state’s schools.
Rev. Franklin Hairston of the Harrison County NAACP spoke first to discuss racial bullying and harassment in schools.
“My goal for being here today is for you to understand that we have a problem in Harrison County, West Virginia, and in other counties all throughout West Virginia, as it pertains to racial bullying, harassment, unfairness and discipline, and a push for academic achievement,” Hairston said.
He listed more than half a dozen incidents in schools where little or nothing was done to address the racial harassment students face, including his own daughter.
“I’ve been addressing issues with race in her schools since she was in the second grade from being called outside of her name, picked on because of the color of her skin, the texture and style of her hair, the build of her body, and she’s even been hit by few male athletes,” Hairston said.
He went on to request disciplinary data for Harrison County schools, but also urged statewide action including diversity in recruitment of teachers and diversity and racial sensitivity training.
“The issues with our children are not just with students, it’s also with our educators.”
The Board is not allowed to deliberate or take action on any topic addressed by a member of the public that is not already on the meeting agenda.
Hairston was followed by Rev. Matthew Watts, who spoke more broadly about the multiple crises facing the state’s poor children. Watts listed several chronic issues impacting low-income children in the state including low labor force participation and poor health outcomes, before focusing on education.
“Probably the most profound crisis we have is in education,” Watts said. “Four reports were produced in the last four months that I thought would have resulted in summits being held all over the state.”
Released in July, the School Discipline Report showed that poorer students were more than twice as likely to be referred for disciplinary action in schools. Both the Summative Assessment and NAEP results showed a drop in academic achievement across the state, while the college-going study indicated less than half of all high school graduates in the state go on to post-secondary education.
“If that’s not a crisis in education, I don’t know what it is,” Watts said. – “It’s pretty profound among poor children, so what I’m here to request is we’ve got to take some action.”
Watts asked the Board to help facilitate discussions in all 55 counties and at individual school levels, on how to address educational issues. He also asked that funds from the American Rescue Plan Act be set aside to help address the issues.
Watts ended by encouraging the Board to develop a suspension tracking system that posts every week online.
“This is a national problem,” he said. “Why can’t we be first in solving something for change? Why can’t we take the lead in West Virginia?”
Discipline was briefly discussed later in the meeting when Superintendent David Roach gave an update on the Student Discipline Report.
He stated that data has been distributed to county and school level leadership, and that the Board of Education directed the Department of Education to expand the scope and depth of the report to address these issues more effectively and develop a plan moving forward.
“Educators, students, families, community partners, and other stakeholders will be involved as part of a comprehensive response,” Roach said. “A detailed analysis and potential action steps will be developed and presented to the West Virginia Board of Education to ensure that all students have equitable access to safe and high quality learning opportunities in West Virginia classrooms.”
Board member Debra Sullivan said she was glad to see progress being made on the issue, and expressed disappointment with the initial report for its lack of actionable items.
“There was really nothing there that you could get your hands on to deal with,” she said.
Sullivan also pointed out the ambiguity of some of the data, and looked forward to greater detail that will better help school leaders.
“I know that you’ll be looking at the various demographics, all the indicators, and not just race, but SES (Socio-Economic Status), and gender, and special ed populations, and are certain special ed populations being cited more frequently than others, the learning disabled versus a behaviorally challenged,” Sullivan said. “There’s such a wealth of information that the schools could use.”
West Virginia ranked 42nd in the latest Kids Count Databook produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The databook tracks hard data on the challenges facing kids around the nation. This latest report has a particular focus on mental health and anxiety challenges facing kids after the pandemic.
West Virginia ranked 42nd in the latest Kids Count Databook produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The databook tracks hard data on the challenges facing kids around the nation. This latest report has a particular focus on mental health and anxiety challenges facing kids after the pandemic.
News Director Eric Douglas spoke with Tricia Kingery, the executive director of West Virginia Kids Count to learn more about the program and how to improve the lives of West Virginia children.
The organization plans to release a county by county breakdown of the information in October.
Kingery: West Virginia Kids Count is a private, nonprofit organization. We are one of the state’s oldest child advocacy organizations and we pride ourselves on providing the most trusted data about the well being of West Virginia’s children and we encourage others to use data to drive decisions that help kids have a better life.
Douglas: Rather than just saying, “Well, this is what I believe, you actually have the receipts to prove it.”
Kingery: The foundation of everything we do is data. And I think that’s what makes us a little bit different than other child advocacy organizations. We’ve got a 34 year track record on producing an annual data book on child well being. It is essentially the go to for all things children so that we can see how our children are faring. We recently released the national data book in partnership with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. I think it’s interesting to always point out that Kids Count is a network that’s throughout the country, and every state has their own Kids Count. And I’m honored to represent West Virginia Kids Count at a state level, but also at a national level. The Casey Foundation makes that possible. We’re part of a national network and a national movement to help advocate for what kids need most.
Douglas: The organization has been doing this for 34 years producing these kids count data books.
Kingery: Interestingly enough, during the Gaston Caperton administration, he established a task force of business leaders to get involved in child advocacy work. And that was the first Kids Count in the country. West Virginia is leading the way and counting our kids and making them important. His legacy continues with a business driven board of directors. And that’s why we’re a little bit different. We’re all about the data and making sure that we use data to drive decisions, just like a business would do.
Douglas: So this is a nationwide program, but it started right here in West Virginia?
Kingery: It did. It was called a task force. This one, thankfully, turned into West Virginia kids count.
Douglas: What are some of the things you track within the data book?
Kingery: The Casey Foundation reports on a national ranking. And so we’re compared to other states in terms of how our kids are faring. So this year, the report identified West Virginia as 42. So, we are 42nd overall in child well being in comparison to other states throughout the country, which is a slight improvement. We went from 44 to 42. We typically hover around the 40’s, but that’s why data is even more important. So we can use data to drive decisions and help kids.
Douglas: What are some of the things you track?
Kingery: There’s overall child well being but what makes that up is the whole child. There’s four of what we call domains, and those four domains are education, health, family and community, and economic well being. So there’s four buckets of data and each of those buckets have indicators in it.
Let me talk about economic wellbeing for a moment. That’s actually where we struggled the most. If you ask me what’s the biggest foundational concern or challenge for children, it’s poverty. This economic well being indicator, we actually ranked 47th in the country. In terms of overall economic well being, and that’s data points, such as children in poverty, children whose parents lack secure employment, children living in households with the high cost of housing, and teens not in school and not working.
Douglas: There were a couple of things that were up slightly, a couple things that were down slightly.
Kingery: Unfortunately, we do hover in those 40s; 42 is probably the best we’ve been in the last 10 years. So we are making progress. What I want to do is use that data and identify specifically what indicators could push that number down. I mean, let’s be 30 next year, and then 20, and then 10, and then one. Sometimes it’s low hanging fruit. What can we do that can make a big difference? And then sometimes identifying long term change requires step one, step two, step three to do this.
It’s all about using the data, getting the right people to use the data. Our other partner is the legislature. We want them to have access to this guidebook when they’re making decisions and voting, so that they make informed decisions. What the Casey Foundation does is produce the national data book that has West Virginia level data. And then in October, West Virginia Kids Count will publish the state data book which takes those same indicators and breaks them down by county. That allows the media and legislators to understand what’s happening in our own backyard.
Douglas: Give me an example of low hanging fruit; something simple that we could change that would improve the lives of our kids.
Kingery: The focus of this entire data book is on mental health. I think that’s where we can start in terms of low hanging fruit. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General has recognized us as being in a youth mental health pandemic. Kids are struggling with anxiety and depression, which affects school absenteeism and academic success, and so many other things. Throw a COVID pandemic into the world of which our youth are living and they’re really struggling.
So we can’t ignore the mental health fallout, or what they call an echo pandemic. It does take shape in the form of anxiety and depression for many of our youth. In 2016, West Virginia children were struggling with anxiety and depression at a percentage of 11.7. And then in 2020, that number jumped to 14.6, which is a 24.8 percent increase. That number is the low hanging fruit because that’s the number of children that need mental health resources and support. That’s where we have to start; mental health awareness. We’ve come a long way even in the past 10 years, but it’s still something that folks don’t talk about. We have to make sure our schools are trauma informed, which means they understand that things that are happening at home, affect a child at school, and to make sure there’s acceptance of mental health issues, that there’s environments where kids feel comfortable talking about what’s going on, and then also the resources and support to give them.
Douglas: Does that run across all socioeconomic classes? Is it related to lower socio-economic children?
Kingery: It affects all kids, but research tells us that children living in poverty, and, or, children of various races, it does affect them more so. So children of color and poverty, really have a disadvantage right out of the box. So those are the kids that we really need to be watching out for a little bit more than the others, actually a lot more than the others, and making sure that they even have a level playing field, which they don’t.
I’m a firm believer that poverty is at the foundation, the root cause of all of all of our challenges in West Virginia. And that’s why we have to address the whole child and have to look at education, economics, their family situation, what resources are available in the community. Do you have a bed to sleep in at night? Do you have electricity in your home? Do you feel safe in the home? Do you have access to services and resources? Transportation is a huge issue. But that underlying issue is still economic well being and poverty.
Douglas: What would you like to see the legislature do to improve the mental health and overall health and well being of children in West Virginia?
Kingery: Year before last, we advocated for the passing of what we call the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) bill. And it did pass without funding, but it did create an exploratory task force that looks at the impact of trauma on kids. Recently there’s been a report submitted from that task force to the legislature. We want to make sure that the ACEs movement, that people understand what adverse childhood experiences are. And we want to make sure that we help children who are experiencing those events, overcome those issues, and most importantly, to prevent them from happening in the first place.
I’m hoping the legislature looks at the results of the report and advances the adverse childhood experiences effort. And what that means is funding schools to be trauma informed, making sure there’s access to mental health services in the community. It’s funding anything that puts resources in the hands of kids and families at a local level. We really support schools being the center of a community. So making sure schools have the resources.
Douglas: What’s the takeaway message from this?
Kingery: I think most of us who grew up in West Virginia chose to stay here or came back home. We want to make sure that West Virginia is a great place to be a kid and for all kids, not just our own. So that means honestly looking out for the kids in your life, and not just the ones under your roof. But making sure that you keep an eye out in our community because they need us. The problems are so big and so massive and so complex: COVID-19, depression, the opioid crisis, foster care, grandparents raising grandchildren. We have so many issues we have to come together, place mental health as a priority, talk about it, invest in it, make resources and services accessible to all and that’s it’s going to take all of us to make sure West Virginia is a great place to be a kid and for all kids.
The Child Tax Credit provides Americans with children a little extra financial support. Experts are now studying what happened when that support was increased.
The Child Tax Credit provides Americans with children a little extra financial support. Experts are now studying what happened when that support was increased.
The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased the Child Tax Credit from $2000 to $3000 per child over six and $3600 per child under five. The COVID-era expansion also increased the income threshold for recipients, and even allowed those with zero income to receive funds.
Congress did not extend the expansions, and the credit has since reverted to its original amount and thresholds.
For six months at the end of 2021, parents had the novel option to receive the money on a monthly basis rather than the normal lump sum.
Leah Hamilton, associate professor of social work at Appalachian State University, worked with the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis to survey folks before and after that child tax expansion to learn how it affected families.
“People were using this credit in the way that best works for them,” Hamilton said. “For folks who are facing severe food insecurity, they were able to put it towards groceries, but families also put it towards long term investments in themselves and their children.”
Hamilton said her team’s analysis of Census Pulse data showed that almost 52 percent of West Virginia recipients spent the child tax credit on food. The next most common uses were paying for clothing and other essentials for their children and managing bills.
“The fact that this unrestricted assistance allowed families to meet both short term and long term needs for their families really speaks to the power of allowing families to make the decisions that are right for them,” Hamilton said.
Despite only lasting six months and ending relatively recently in January 2022, the impact of the credit’s temporary expansion has already resulted in extensive study.
A meta-analysis of poverty data conducted by the The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University estimates that the U.S. child poverty rate dropped from 15.8 percent in June 2021 to 11.9 percent in July, when the first monthly checks were sent out. In January 2022, after the monthly checks ended, the U.S. child poverty rate rose to 17 percent from 12.1 percent in December 2021.
Hamilton presented her findings Tuesday night at the Waterfront Marriott in Morgantown. It was the second in a three stop tour of West Virginia that included the Northern Panhandle earlier in the day and Charleston on Wednesday.
The presentations were organized by Tom Sussman, president of TSG Consulting. Sussman also serves on the board of the Educational Broadcasting Authority that oversees West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
About 39 million families across the U.S. — including 346,000 children in West Virginia — are receiving monthly child payments this week from the U.S. Department of Treasury as a part of the federal COVID-19 relief plan.
Families will get about $3,000 per child each month. The money comes from a temporary expansion of the child tax credit — part of President Biden’s COVID relief package enacted in March. The Child Tax Credit is one of the largest spending measures Congress has passed that goes directly to parents.
These payments could reduce child poverty by 43 percent in West Virginia, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy.
President Joe Biden and most Democrats in Washington are pushing to keep the child tax credit at these levels for four more years.
West Virginia’s congressional delegation is mixed on whether they would support this increased funding.
Republicans lawmakers Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, and U.S. Reps. Carol Miller and David McKinley, and Alex Mooney all say they are reluctant to extend the program. They offered similar statements, saying even though they support the increase to the child tax credit in general, they worry that larger spending packages that Democrats are proposing will hurt working families.
Mooney, Miller and McKinley also added that President Donald Trump’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act 2017 already increased the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child.
Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin is the only lawmaker from West Virginia who voted for Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which included additional increases for families. Manchin tweeted on July 14 that he is reserving judgement on the Democrats’ budget proposals until he’s had a chance to review their plan.
Prior to the pandemic, West Virginia had a budget of $ 48 million in federal funding to support child care, according to a spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The state has received an additional $249 million in the past year from three COVID relief packages. Much of this funding has gone toward keeping child care centers open.
