[Kansas] Report: Poverty touching more kids

from The Lawrence Journal World

By Dave Ranney

In Douglas County, one of every five children is living within a few hundred dollars of the federal poverty line.

“I don’t know how some of these people are making it,” said Jeanette Collier, who runs the East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corp. office in Lawrence.

Ever-increasing numbers of children are not making it.

“Child poverty continues to increase in Kansas,” said Gary Brunk, executive director at Kansas Action for Children.

The Topeka-based advocacy group released its annual Kids Count report Tuesday.

The report shows that 29 percent of the state’s school-age children are living in households at or below 130 percent of the poverty level — $1,798 a month for a single mom with two children. Six years ago, it was 24 percent.

At 130 percent of poverty, children are eligible for free school lunches.

In Douglas County, 19 percent of school-age children — that’s almost 2,500 kids — currently are eligible for free lunches. Four years ago, 17 percent were eligible.

Brunk called the upward trend a “dark cloud” over the state’s mostly successful efforts to increase immunizations, reduce teen pregnancies and promote education.

“For a growing number of lower-income families across Kansas, paying for necessities such as food, housing, child care and health care is becoming increasingly difficult,” Brunk said.

The state’s politicians, he said, should:

• Raise the minimum wage.

• Increase educational opportunities, especially those available through Head Start.

• Create tax-free savings accounts aimed at helping low-income families build assets.

• Help families keep more of what they earn by encouraging participation in programs such as food stamps and HealthWave, and making them aware of tax refunds available to the poor.

In Lawrence, the poor are hamstrung by high rents and low, college-town wages.

“If you’re poor and you’re living in Lawrence and you lose your job, there are very few options for becoming re-employed,” said ECKAN director Collier.

Still, poor families are attracted to Lawrence.

“They come here because they’ve heard Lawrence is a prosperous place and they think they’ll be able to get a job here,” Collier said.

Once they’re here, she said, many stay.

“I’ve talked to families who’ve moved here from Dallas, Chicago, Detroit. Compared to what’s going on there, they think Lawrence is a paradise, even though they’re suffering,” Collier said.

At The Salvation Army shelter, case manager Mathew Faulk said recent upturns in the economy have not reached the poor.

“For most of them, it’s not getting better. It’s more people competing for fewer jobs,” Faulk said.

Nancy Jorn oversees the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department’s support program for pregnant women and their babies.

Families headed by workers earning minimum wage cannot make ends meet in Lawrence.

“When you add up rent, utilities, food and gas, there’s nothing left,” she said. “If you have to pay for day care, you’re in the hole.”