The Situation in Brief
The U.S. children and youth field is poised in a moment of opportunity and a time of tremendous challenge. By almost every measure, the status of poor children and youth in America is rapidly deteriorating.
According to the Census Bureau, child poverty increased to 14.1 million (or 19 per cent) in 2008, its highest rate in a decade. More than 8 million children lack health insurance, despite the reauthorisation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and a school-to-prison pipeline is creating a trajectory that leads to
marginalised lives and imprisonment, dimming the hopes of a productive future for hundreds of thousands of young people. Furthermore, for every indicator of child well-being, children of colour are consistently and persistently at the bottom. In recent history, the gap between the races has grown wider in critical areas, including family wealth, a primary predictor of child outcomes and well-being.
Even with the financial crisis looming, the Obama Administration has made available billions of dollars to support initiatives that could begin to achieve equity for those children who have been most excluded. Nonetheless, ensuring that policymakers work in partnership with youth and communities to enact systemic changes requires a thoughtful combination of long-term, multi-tiered strategies, short-term targeted tactics, and sharing of lessons learned.
It is within this context that Atlantic devised its U.S. Children & Youth Programme. In determining the strategic focus for our work in the U.S., we were guided by two overarching objectives: issues that impact large numbers of poor children, youth and families; and areas where Atlantic can achieve progress in the relatively short time we have remaining.
Children & Youth Programme Goals in the United States
- Ensure children’s access to health care by maximising enrolment of children in public health insurance programmes
- Decrease the reliance on zero tolerance and other harsh disciplinary policies in schools
- Develop and strengthen the local and national infrastructure that supports and advocates for children, youth and their families
Embedded in all of our work is an intentional focus on engaging communities – with a particular focus on amplifying the voices of young people. This strand of our work builds from Atlantic’s Elev8 programme, a community engagement initiative that is based in four parts of the country: New Mexico, Oakland, Chicago and Baltimore.
Finally, recognizing that while federal legislation sets the regulatory framework and funding formulas for programmes, it is states and localities that are responsible for policy implementation. Smart and strategic policy work in Washington is critical – but as important is the creation and preservation of state and local capacity to advocate effectively for and monitor implementation of federal policy on the state and local levels. As such, Atlantic’s C&Y programme will support national, state and local work, as well as efforts to align work across all three levels.
Children & Youth Resources
Advancement Project, www.advancementproject.org
American Youth Policy Forum, www.aypf.org
Chapin Hall, www.chapinhall.org
Child Trends, www.childtrends.org
Children’s Defense Fund, www.childrensdefense.org
Children NOW, www.childrennow.org
First Focus, www.firstfocus.net
Harvard Family Research Project, www.hfrp.org
John Gardner Center, www.gardnercenter.stanford.edu
Kids Count, www.aecf.org/kidscount
Kids Well, http://www.kidswellcampaign.org
National Academy for State Health Policy, www.nashp.org
National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC), www.nasbhc.org
NASBHC’s Handbook: Partnering with School-Based Health Centers, http://bit.ly/nasbhc
National Center for Children in Poverty, www.nccp.org
The Urban Institute, www.urban.org
Facts at a Glance
- Across the states, child poverty rates range from 7% in New Hampshire to 28% in Mississippi.1
- 11% of white children, 31% of Hispanic children and 35% of African-American children live in poverty.2
- 72% of the 8.1 million uninsured children in the U.S. live in families with household incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level (about $44,000 for a family of four).3
- 21% of households with children experience food insecurity.4
- In 2003, African-American youths made up 16% of the nation’s overall juvenile population but accounted for 45% of juvenile arrests.5
Footnotes
1. Source: Who are America’s Poor Children? The Official Story. 2010. National Center for Children in Poverty: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.
2. Source: Health Coverage of Children: The Role of Medicaid and CHIP. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2009.
3. Source: Health Coverage of Children: The Role of Medicaid and CHIP. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2009.
4. Source: Household Food Security in the United States, 2008 (Economic Research Report No. 83). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2009.
5. Source: Howard N. Snyder. Juvenile Arrests 2003. Juvenile Justice Bulletin: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, 2005.
