Report shows more Ohio children living in poverty, slight improvement in

“We should see some more improvement in the 2014 (poverty) data”, Warren said.

Michigan was ranked 33 in the nation for child well-being, that is one spot down from a year ago. “The poverty rate in Washington County is roughly 5 percent above what it is for the statewide average”. Twelve percent of teens from Mississippi and Louisiana are neither in school nor working. When breaking it down by race, black and American Indian children were three times as likely as whites to be in that situation; and Asian and Hispanic/Latino families twice as likely.

“Progress was made because of policy changes and concerted effort, so we know that with political will, we can help families thrive”, Alicia Guevara Warren, Kids Count in Michigan project director, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, fifteen percent of children in Nevada didn’t have health insurance at the time of the study, in stark contrast with Massachusetts, the nation’s best for child healthcare coverage, where only 2 percent of kids did not have coverage.

The KIDS COUNT survey shows children in poverty, at 24 percent, worsened from 2008, when it was at 18 percent.

The report also found the number of children living in high-poverty areas has doubled.

More of the state’s children are falling into poverty. “We need to continue to increase our state minimum wage, and we must implement policies such as a state earned income tax credit, paid sick leave and increased childcare supports, which we know help lift kids and families out of poverty”. And more children had health insurance coverage.

The state improved in its health ranking, moving to 14th from 26th place, in part because of the expansion of Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act, according to the report. “New Hampshire has the lowest investment in prevention and treatment of any state in New England”.

Experts said when children begin their lives in poverty, they can face serious challenges in terms of succeeding in school and beyond.

His call comes after the release of a new child welfare index ranking Minnesota No. 1 for child well-being.

The governor says it’s too soon to say how much additional money he wants for those programs or what shape they may take.