The Number of Children in Poverty Continues to Rise, When Will We Act?
According to the latest information reported in the Des Moines Register, the number of children in poverty across the state of Iowa has risen to 16.2%, which is up from 10.8% in 2000. That is a 50.5% change in a decade, which outpaces the national increase, which stood at a 33.3% increase. It gets even worse when you consider that most experts agree that for a family to truly be able to support themselves they would need to make more than double the federal poverty level. If you take that into account, 41% of Iowa children 5 years or younger and 33.9% of those from the ages of 6 to 17 now live in poverty or near poverty homes.
One would think that such statistics would raise a cry of alarm at the State Capitol building as the next legislative session nears. Sadly, the governor of Iowa seems more focused on finding business tax breaks and pushing education reforms focused on teachers than in reforming the growing childhood poverty problem in Iowa. Nothing in the governor’s plans for this legislative session directly deals with children in