Closing the Childhood Equity Gap: New report provides a data-driven look into the prioritization of children at the state and local levels

A new report released by Save the Children provides the first-ever ranking of counties in the United States where children are most and least prioritized. The report, aptly entitled, “The Land of Inopportunity: Closing the Childhood Equity Gap for America’s Kids,” shows that where a child grows up can have a profound impact on their long-term health and success; especially clear are the racial, geographical, and economic divides that define these disparities. Of the bottom ranking counties, more than 90 percent are rural communities and three-quarters contain non-white majority populations. Based on data surrounding the availability of afterschool in different areas of the country, we can corroborate that the need for programs is high in areas of concentrated poverty and even greater in rural areas—for every child in an afterschool program in a rural area, three are waiting to get in, compared with the national average of two that are waiting to get in for every one child enrolled.

The rankings in “The Land of Inopportunity” are based on four factors that cut childhood short:

1. Hunger
2. Dropping out of school
3. Teenage pregnancy
4. Early death due to poor health, accident, murder, or suicide

The report points out the importance of looking at data from multiple levels. By breaking out each of these factors using specific indicators and analyzing this data at both a state and local level, Save the Children illustrates the ways that looking only at state-level data, for example, may hide disparities and leave areas of concentrated need undetected. To support further analysis, they have created an interactive map that ranks each state and each county, based on their performance in each of the four factors cited above, and allows for a deeper look into the specific breakdown of the measures in each county.

As part of the release of “The Land of Inopportunity,” Save the Children hosted a webinar to pull out some of the major takeaways and showcase some of case studies presented as examples in their report. For example, one of the speakers was Sean Kimble, superintendent of Lauderdale Schools in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, who described the community-wide response to reducing their high school dropout rate. Ten years ago, the graduation rate in the county was only 70 percent, meaning that nearly 1 in 3 students was not receiving a high school diploma; in a community already facing high unemployment and high childhood poverty rates, this was incredibly debilitating. Through a strong and innovative commitment, the county launched SEGA – the Secondary Education Graduation Academy – which supports students facing challenging circumstances and provides increased levels of support to ensure they achieve the credits they need to graduate. As a result of these efforts, the graduation rate this year was 98 percent, and they have continuous efforts planned to ensure that youth are not just graduating high school, but graduating having completed career-readiness or college-readiness planning.

Mark Shriver, Senior Vice President of Save the Children’s U.S. Programs and Advocacy and another speaker on the webinar, remarked that “children fare better in states that spend more on their needs and have champions at every level from the federal government to state houses to community leaders who prioritize child-focused legislation, funding and programs,” which is evident in the report’s recommendations.

By way of recommendations, the report emphasizes the importance of investment in youth development and the prioritization of the needs of children and youth by all levels of government. They also highlight the importance of this investment looking at the whole child, incorporating considerations for their social and emotional needs as well as their academic and health needs.  Afterschool and summer learning programs can play a critical role in supporting youth and families in communities and are among the investments that should be considered to better help communities improve their outcomes for their children.

To find out more, check out the full report here and check out the interactive map highlighting the data here.