Report Ranks Michigan 32nd For Well-Being Of Children

Despite progress in child outcomes since 1990, a new report reveals serious racial and ethnic disparities persist in Michigan and other states. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2019 Kids Count Data Book ranks the state 32nd overall in its measure of how kids are faring. Kids Count Project Director at the Michigan League for Public Policy Alicia Guevara Warren says Michigan’s child poverty rate is 11% worse now than when the report was first published three decades ago.

We haven’t moved the needle when it comes to improving child poverty,” Guevara Warrensaid. “Kids of color are more likely to be living in poverty because of the number of historical and systemic barriers and challenges to opportunities that they face over time. “

One in five Michigan kids lives in poverty, and the state has the highest rate of concentrated poverty for African American kids in the country for the second year in a row. Michigan was also one of a dozen states that saw a drop in its child population since 1990.