Report: State’s Child Poverty Rate Up 50 Percent

from KETV

OMAHA, Neb. -- A report released today found that 15 percent of Nebraska children were living in poverty from 2000 to 2005.

That’s a 50 percent increase during the last five years in the state’s child poverty rate, according Kids Count, a report released Tuesday by the non-profit Voices for Children in Nebraska.

Thirty-six percent of the state’s children were from families considered to be low-income.

The report showed that 71 percent of black children living in Nebraska were from low-income families.

Sixty-one percent of the state’s Hispanic children were from low-income families followed by 26 percent of white children.

The report described low-income families as earning 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

In 2006, the federal poverty level was $20,000 for a family of four. So such a family could have an income of up to $40,000 and still be considered low-income.,/span>