I recently received a draft copy of The Urban Child Institute’s 2010 Databook, and was struck by one line in particular: “… for children, there are two realities to life in Shelby County…”
This statement is certainly true, and there is a world of difference between those two realities when it comes to the early developmental experiences, school readiness, academic success and later life outcomes of our children.
Roughly half of children in our community live in the first of these two worlds: Their parents hold living wage jobs, are able to cover mortgage payments, and these children will likely grow up in relative safety and security. Across the county, these families are disproportionately located in the suburbs, are much more likely to be White, and are much more likely to grow up with both parents present.
Meanwhile, the other half of children in the County are born into a very different world: they will live in poverty during the critical years between birth and kindergarten entry. These children are much more likely to be Black, to live within the city, and to live with a single-parent. In Memphis, nearly 1 in 4 young children (age five or younger) actually live in dire poverty – equal to about $10,000 a year for a mother and child. These children will know first-hand the crushing configuration of uncertainty, chaos and toxic stress associated with grinding poverty in early childhood.
Poverty in early childhood has effects that last into adulthood. A careful review of some 30,000 American families over the last four decades shows that children who live in poverty during the first five years of life are likely to finish two fewer years of school than are children born into middle-class families. As adults, these same children will earn about half as much each year as their peers born into middle-class families. Early childhood poverty also doubles the risk of health and psychological problems in adulthood (Duncan 2009).
My colleague John Gnuschke, Director of the Sparks Bureau for Business and Economic Research at the University of Memphis, offers a thoughtful perspective on the shifting demographics of poverty in the city:
“… white and higher income families of all races with children are fleeing the city and leaving behind older upper income professionals and poor families with children who cannot afford to access the quality housing and school systems in newer suburbs. This has been promoted by transportation opportunities, school construction patterns, housing development patterns and taxing patterns.
…If taxes are too high and the cost of private schools is too high, middle class and affluent families are much better off to flee and seek both lower taxes and better public schools. New housing is also an attraction for newly minted middle class families of all races. Employers and employment opportunities flow to those areas of recent growth. … the flight to safety and security has many stages and one of them is to move to the city and the second is to move to the suburbs. This has always been a pattern for Delta families seeking employment and income opportunities.
…The only ones really harmed by the movement are the families that are left behind with few opportunities to overcome their position in life. The decaying infrastructure is more than just poor schools and abandoned factories, it is the destruction of the American adventure based on hope for a brighter future.
Children with little or no hope of a promising future are an image that few people can envision. It is the image of Sugar Ditch brought to the city.”
Chilling to say the least. Change in this case will be very slow and require an extremely patient and goal oriented audience (citizens). Of course, if one can create a definite solution they will easily win a Nobel, seeing as they would have identified the equation that finally breaks the cycle of poverty. The only solutions I can think that would even make a dent in this all too real scenario is greater emphasis and opportunity for continued adult education and skill training. We would need to couple that with a young child/ infant care program at a scale that does not exist in this city, so that mothers and fathers have a healthy atmosphere in which to leave their children while they are attending classes and training. I guess it could work if we were willing to commit to it.
As always, it would require a huge financial investment. If we could offer continued education to:
1) Allow these adults to achieve a proficiency level equal to receiving their GED.
2) Guarantee continued education in order to earn a 2 year degree or receive a certificate of training in any local community college or technical school (public or private).
3) Go about either creating a public daycare system or use public financing to encourage private sector daycare growth and location while enforcing the strictest of facility and care guidelines (seeing as Memphis has a woeful past concerning adequate child care services).
Of course we are talking about a scale and sense of urgency not seen since the rapid industrial military buildup during the outset or World War II.
“As always, it would require a huge financial investment.”
from who, prithee tell?
Well, I think the first step is for the city to begin investing in Powerball tickets. Ha!
I realize that the lack of a giant pot of money always seems to be a stumbling block for any proposal and the suggestion I made would require significant financial backing if fully developed. However, there is no reason that such a program could not start off small enough to fit within our available resources budget. It would start by pooling information regarding available resources and making it available through a central clearing house of sorts. What programs are available that allow young adults to increase their proficiency to a level equal to that of a GED? How many scholarships are available for those simply seeking a two year or technical degree? What are the qualifications? Are there scholarships available for students that earned their GED later in life? What day care options are available for these individuals? Where are they located? What are their hours of operation and what are the costs?
Perhaps we can establish scholarships that target the specific population mentioned in this post that could be supported by matching private donations with public funding in order to attend the programs mentioned in the suggestion. Ensure there is a central daycare facility and program tailored for those that are enrolled in the program or qualify so that several schools and technical institutes could be served. This could utilize existing daycare facilities assuming they meet very rigid standards and could be paid for through scholarships and grants.
The program could be designed to grow with the funding that is available. The public side of this funding could come from several sources including reduced tuition for those who met specific guidelines, a greater degree of state and federal funding and a host of other sources of which I am not aware- I would need someone more knowledgeable than I to help fill this gap.
Obama.
he’ll pay for EVERYTHING!
still waiting for my rent check from Washington…
…or that. I know what you mean, Washington keeps telling me their check is in the mail or they will pay the utilities next month to make up for it, but I’ve yet to see one penny. I think I’m going to put their room back on Craigslist next week.
At least Obama is doing something. Bush spent eight years undoing and undermining so much that was right.
“Bush spent eight years undoing and undermining so much that was right.” I always appreciate your honesty, but this is such a broad, irrelevant claim. It also undermines this reader’s opinion of you as an objective, clear-eyed source for great information and ideas. I heartily disagree with President Bush on many issues (NCLB, Medicare, nuclear weapons, Patriot Act, etc.), but I hope you either do away with such silliness or indeed substantiate such a tremendous accusation.
As for the article, which I completely forgot about while writing my original response, I believe that a lot of these problems would be avoided if our community returned to the traditional family model. There is a vast body of empirical evidence that demonstrates that single-parenthood is devastating both to children and the mother. Government can only do so much in this regard. Churches, community organizations, and, most importantly, God can make a real difference. Just my thoughts.