Report: Childhood Poverty Worse in Hamilton County than State

Hamilton County fares worse than Ohio overall in a series of measurements for children’s economic well-being, health, education and safety, according to a report released Aug. 7.

The 2013 “Ohio’s Kids Count” report

from the Children’s Defense Fund and Annie E. Casey Foundation finds Hamilton County has a higher median income than Ohio does on average. But the county fares worse than the state in various categories, including childhood poverty, fourth-grade reading and math proficiency, felony convictions and the amount of babies with low birth weights, an early sign of poor health.

One example: Hamilton County’s childhood poverty rate is 27.7 percent, while Ohio’s overall rate is 23.9 percent. If the county brought the rate down to the state average, it would pull more than 3,000 local children out of poverty.

Hamilton County’s childhood poverty rate dropped from 28.5 percent to 27.7 percent between 2010 and 2011.

The report uses state data from between 2009 and 2011 to look at various indicators for children under the age of 18. Some of the data differs from findings from other groups, such as the National Center for Children in Poverty, which found about 48 percent of Cincinnati’s children are in poverty.

The report claims many of the measured indicators are socially and economically linked, so it should come as little surprise that Hamilton County is doing worse across the board. Still, it advises local, state and federal officials to continue taking action to bring down the troubling numbers.

In Cincinnati, City Hall

has historically failed to meet its goals for human services funding

, which in part helps homeless youth and other struggling children.

But local leaders, including city officials and business executives,

have backed the Cincinnati Preschool Promise

, which aims to place more low- and middle-income Cincinnati children in early education programs. Shiloh Turner, vice president for community investment at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, today wrote in an email to CityBeat that Preschool Promise backers are currently looking at funding options and will iron out plans and partnerships through meetings scheduled for the next three months.

The Kids Count report credits Ohio officials in particular for approving a new voucher program that will subsidize preschool for families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The program is expected to reach 7,000 children in the state over the next two years.

But the state has

generally cut education funding

since Gov. John Kasich took office, leaving Cincinnati Public Schools with $15 million less state funding than it received in 2009.

At the same time, the federal government is set to

cut its food stamp program

in November, which progressive think tanks like the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities argue will hurt low-income families in Ohio.