4 Ohio cities reach child poverty rates of 50 percent or more

YOUNGSTOWN

In 2013, 63.3 percent of children in Youngstown lived in poverty. That’s the second-worst rate in the nation among big- and medium-sized cities, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Flint, Mich., topped the list with 66.5 percent of its city’s children, age 18 and younger, living in poverty.

These numbers are based on an analysis of bureau figures on child poverty in the nation’s 575 cities with a population of at least 60,000. In 2013, the federal government said a family of three was considered to be in poverty if its annual income was $18,769 or less. The numbers were released in September.

“Compared to other developed countries in the world, that’s a very high percent of our children, our future, to have in poverty,” said Claudia Coulton, a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a national expert on poverty.

“I think the average person doesn’t really realize how devastating the consequences of poverty are, especially when it’s experienced among young children.”

Coulton pointed out the national child-poverty rate was about 22 percent last year. In Northeast Ohio, in addition to Youngstown, three other cities had child-poverty rates near 50 percent or higher, ranking them among the 14 worst nationally. They are Cleveland, Canton and Lorain.

Though the ranking for Youngstown is startling, that number may be “even a little low,” said Sister Alyce Koval, a nun with the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown.

Read more about the problem and what needs to be done to change it in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.