Data shows child poverty affects Tooele County less

from Tooele Transcript-Bulletin

Written by Suzanne Ashe

Fewer Tooele County children are living below the poverty level, per capita, than in most other Utah counties, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report.

The Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, reports 10 percent of Tooele County's children, or 1,618 kids, were living under the poverty level in 2004. Statewide, 12.4 percent of all children live under the poverty level.

In 2004, the poverty level was $19,157 for a family of four (two adults, two children).

This poverty index, and other information regarding low-income families, is tracked by Salt Lake City-based Voices for Utah Children, which publishes annual reports for the media, the Legislature and libraries. The 70- to 80-page reports have been too cumbersome to carry in the past, said Terry Haven, Kids Count director. This year's report was published on a data wheel &a small paper cutout with ready access to information on the state and counties.

"It looks like Tooele is doing fairly well," Haven said, who added that the number of children living under the poverty level is low in comparison to the rest of the state despite the fact that Tooele County has a higher-than-average per capita teen birth rate.

Despite having fewer kids below the poverty line, Tooele County is above the statewide average in terms of the number of school-aged children receiving subsidized lunches. Thirty-five percent of the county's kids receive free or reduced school lunches, compared to 32.2 statewide.

A child qualifies for free school lunches if his or her family earns 130 percent of the federal poverty level income, or $24,505.

Food stamp use in the county is also relatively common, though husbanding those stamps to last through the month is a challenge for many families, according to Darlene Christensen, Utah State University Tooele's family and consumer sciences educator.

"A lot of families run out of food stamps before the end of the month and they have hungry children," said Christensen.

One USU-Tooele program offered to families who receive food stamps is the Food Sense Program. It teaches parents how best to shop in order to make their food-stamp allowance last all month, Christensen said.

In Tooele, 2,710 families, about 15 percent, receive Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and 1,578 children were food stamp recipients as of Nov. 2006, according to the Brookings Institute, an independent research and policy institute based in Washington, D.C. There were 308 families in the county enrolled in the Family Employment Program, formerly Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).

"There are probably more families that qualify for EITC, but don't apply," Haven said.

Statewide there are 134,467 families, or 14.3 percent, receiving Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and 74,433 children receiving food stamps.

Voices for Utah Children have pushed several bills in the legislature so far this year, Haven said.

"We have been interested in EITC funding, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding, and extended kindergarten," Haven said.

Increased funding for CHIP would provide 12,000 low-income children with health insurance.

The State Legislature recently passed a law to create an optional extended-day kindergarten for Title I schools. Several schools in Tooele County have extended-day kindergarten already available.

sashe@tooeletranscript.com