8 O’Clock Buzz host Jonathan Zarov interviews Ken Taylor, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF) regarding the the latest KIDS COUNT® Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
“Wisconsin has a lot of work to do to improve outcomes for children of color,” said Ken Taylor, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF). “African-American, Latino, and Native American children are facing greater barriers to success. Those barriers include high poverty rates, lack of reading and math proficiency, and low graduation rates.”
According to the Data Book, the percentage of children living in poverty, although still below the national average, continues to grow faster than the national rate of growth. In addition, poverty is disproportionately affecting communities of color. While overall child poverty rates suggest that nearly one in five children live in poverty, that number varies from about one in ten white children to about one in three Latino children and one in two African American children.
The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families offers a number of recommendations for how policy makers can strengthen families and give children the opportunity to succeed.