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Colorado poverty by the numbers

The Rocky

Published September 3, 2008 at 2:49 p.m.
Updated September 3, 2008 at 2:49 p.m.

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Childhood Poverty in Colorado*

85% -- Chances of growing up in a low-income household in Colorado if parent(s) don't have a high school education

54% -- Chances of growing up in a low-income household in Colorado if parent(s) have a high school education but no college.

20% -- Chances of growing up in a low-income household in Colorado if parent(s) have at least some college.

42% -- Chances of growing up low-income in Colorado if living in single-parent household

15% -- Chance of growing up low-income in Colorado if living in two-parent household

54% -- Percent of Colorado children living in rural areas whose families are low income.

48% -- Percent of Colorado children living in urban areas whose families are low-income.

23% -- Percent of Colorado children living in suburbs whose families are low-income.

25% -- Percent of low-income Colorado children whose families have moved recently.

71% -- Likelihood of growing up in a low-income household if parents are immigrants.

5% -- Likelihood of growing up in a low-income household if parents were born in the United States.

64% -- Likelihood that an African American child in Colorado is growing up in a low-income household

60% -- Likelihood that a Hispanic child in Colorado is growing up in a low-income household

18% -- Likelihood that a non-Hispanic white child in Colorado is growing up in a low-income household

*Source: National Center for Children in Poverty

(Note: "Low-income" refers to 200 percent or less of the federal poverty rate. A family of four with a household income of $42,000 a year or less is considered low-income.)

Comments

  • September 10, 2008

    5:21 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    inalienablerights writes:

    The Right to Vote Against Women & Children Living in Poverty:

    On Women’s Equality Day, updated poverty statistics were released illustrating that income inequality is a growing problem for most American households. In this election year, on the 88th anniversary of a woman’s right to vote, we have a great opportunity to focus our energy on changing the social structures and policies that increase poverty and create barriers to family economic self-sufficiency.

    These structures and policies can be changed if we make doing so a major priority.

    We do not have to tolerate the growth of poverty in our communities. We can choose to increase opportunities for women and their children, close the pay gap, provide quality child care and develop meaningful public assistance programs that support low-wage workers. Access to these programs must also be significantly improved if we don't want to see the numbers of children and families living in poverty increase next year.

    Relative poverty exists whenever people do not have enough income to provide what most of us would consider a minimum standard of living. In Colorado that equals 20% of our households. Poverty also means missing out on the social aspects of your community. For women the isolation that accompanies poverty is the intersection of cultural, material and institutional processes that can exclude them from everyday life such as sharing meals or negotiating childcare.

    Over time, the effects of chronic poverty tend to snowball. Increased debt and the loss of social networks can lead to another drastic outcome--homelessness. Given the new trend of economic homelessness among Colorado families we know that the cost to our communities has increased as well. Homeless prevention programs such as mortgage and rental assistance, utility assistance and transportation assistance must be supplemented with the accurate and timely delivery of work supports such as food assistance and affordable housing. The true eradication of poverty requires a sustainable social network that can support households as they move towards a level of self-sufficiency and beyond.

    A just society is not achieved when individuals pursue just what is best for themselves, but when communities work together for the common good. The common good is not served when one in five Colorado households lives below economic self-sufficiency standards (Pearce, 2007).

    How then do we stave off the downward spiral towards poverty and homelessness? We can stand up for policies like equal pay for equal work. We can deliver timely public assistance to the low wage workers who need it and we can support efforts that address the multiple layers of poverty as well as rebuild the social network of our communities.

    Please support the anti-poverty work across Colorado. Let’s make sure women are keeping their dignity, just as they have kept their right to vote.

    --The CBMS (Colorado Benefits Management System) Coalition