Youngstown kids second poorest in nation

By NICOLETTE PIZZUTO

and DAVE DAVIS

TheNewsOutlet.org

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.

Sister Alyce is the Youngstown site director for The Beatitude House, started in 1988 to provide support services and transitional housing for homeless women and children. The organization has helped more than 100 women and children just in Youngstown. Also, there is always a waiting list of between 20 to 25 families. The group also has homes in Ashtabula and Warren counties.

“With a wait list like we have … we could probably open three more buildings,” Sister Alyce said.

Also, the number of youngsters in poverty in Youngstown is on the rise, figures show. In five years, Youngstown’s child-poverty rate has shot up from 53.1 percent in 2008 to 63.3 percent in 2013. Experts say these statistics translate into the faces of real children, more than 8,700 of them.

“The numbers don’t lie,” said Erin Bishop, Youngstown Health Commissioner. “When you see … kids who are residing at the Rescue Mission [of the Mahoning Valley], it’s hard. Could you imagine not knowing where you’re going to sleep tonight?”

Sister Alyce said many of the 75 women and more than 100 children The Beatitude House currently serves are caught in a long-term cycle of poverty, a situation that other experts say is among the hardest to break because of the damaging effect poverty has on children’s lives.

It’s hard for them to envision a better future “because they’re living day to day,” she said. “That’s what they’re used to. They come from generational poverty, which means they were poor, their parents and grandparents probably lived the same kind of life that they are living.”

Dawn Wallace-Pascoe, a poverty expert with the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, said child-poverty rates are highest in metropolitan areas and Appalachia, but the biggest increases in the last decade have been in the state’s suburbs and rural areas.

For example, Mahoning County had a child-poverty rate of 26.2 percent last year, while the tri-county area was at 28.7 percent, both well below Youngstown, but well above the state average of 22.7 percent, the data show.

Wallace-Pascoe, like others, said a problem as big as child poverty cannot be fixed with a simple solution. Ultimately, it comes down to stable, well-paying jobs, experts say. And in cities such as Flint and Youngstown, still reeling from the loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, that’s a tall order.

“Parents need stable jobs that pay a living wage in order to lift their families out of poverty,” Wallace-Pascoe said. Affordable, high-quality child care is a must along with a quality education, she said.

“I think that providing education is really the key to breaking the cycle of poverty,” said Julia Pisansky, a development associate of The Beatitude House. “You can give anyone a home, but for them to live on their own, it requires them to have an education. … So I think that’s the most important thing.”

Coulton said well-paying jobs are important, but she noted that child poverty is rooted in many aspects of a child’s life. “It’s structural and it requires lots of investments that our state and other states are not making right now.”

“Money, unfortunately, it’s what everyone needs,” Sister Alyce said.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, The University of Akron, Cuyahoga Community College and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio, The Vindicator, and The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio, both of Akron.