FORTY PERCENT OF WV KIDS LIVE IN POVERTY NEIGHBORHOODS - New Kids Count Report Dismal

(01/28/2005)

Kids Count is releasing disturbing new statistics regarding the status of West Virginia children. Most of the tracked areas have improved during much of the past ten years. Now, most are getting worse. Thirty-nine percent of West Virginia children live in high-poverty neighborhoods, compared to 23 percent nationally. After releasing new data about the increase of poverty among children in WV, Kids Count now says many Mountain State children are poorly prepared for their first day of school. The group's 2004 Data Book rates the state below the national average in six of ten indicators for school readiness. Thirty percent lived in neighborhoods with a high rate of unemployed males, compared to 14 percent nationally. Twenty-nine percent of children under five lived in serious poverty, compared to a national rate of 19 percent. Kids Count also said West Virginia two-year-olds are less likely to be immunized and more babies here are born with low birth weights. Fewer Mountain State children are enrolled in Head Start. COMING A look at Calhoun County.

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