2017 Race for Results report reveals persistent disparities; lawmakers urged to back policies that level the playing field
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2017 Race for Results report shows that persistent challenges in opportunities for success and well-being hinder children of color and kids living in immigrant families, especially African-American, Latino and American Indian kids.
The Race for Results report, released today, underscores the formidable risks to healthy child development such as poverty, limited educational opportunities and family separation, in immigrant families and for children of color, exacerbated by policies that limit resources and restrict access.
Race for Results measures children’s progress on the national and state levels in key education, health and economic milestones by racial and ethnic groups. The report’s index uses a composite score of indicators on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 1,000 (highest) for comparison. The index shows persistent, significant disparities among African-American (369), American Indian (413) and Latino children (429) compared to white (713) and Asian and Pacific Islander children (783).
The report reveals the reach of chronic poverty: children of immigrants account for 30 percent of all low-income kids in the United States, but represent less than one-fourth of the nation’s overall child population.
“The nation’s vitality and prosperity depend on the success of every child in this country,” said Casey Foundation President and CEO Patrick McCarthy. “Like generations before them, immigrants have helped further the nation and its economy. We will lose a great deal if policymakers don’t expand existing policies that work and implement new legislation to support children in immigrant families, as well as millions of U.S.-born children of color.”
The report makes three recommendations to help ensure all children and their families are afforded opportunities to reach their full potential: keep families together and in their communities; help children meet key developmental milestones; and increase economic opportunity for parents.
The 2017 Race for Results report and state-by-state data are available at www.aecf.org/raceforresults/. RADIO: Find soundbites in English and Spanish from Casey Foundation senior research associate Flo Gutierrez at www.aecf.org/soundbites.
