Study: Number of Kids Living in Poverty up in Washtenaw County Since 2008

The Ann Arbor Independent Editorial Team

The Michigan League for Public Policy reports that child poverty in the state has gone up since 2008. In Washtenaw County, 13.4 percent of the county’s children ages 0-17 live in poverty, that’s up 2.3 percent from 2008 levels.  Comparing Michigan counties from 2008-2015, 72 counties saw their child poverty rate increase.

The 2017 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book was released this week and it shows an overall 15 percent increase since 2008 of children living in poverty. Another study released in April revealed that job creation in Michigan has fueled a low-wage economy. Michigan’s job market is disproportionately made up of low-wage jobs — 62 percent of the state’s jobs in 2015 paid less than $20 per hour, according to research on the state’s working poor to be released by the Michigan Association of United Ways.

“No Michigan child should be experiencing poverty, hunger, abuse or neglect, regardless of where they are born and grow up, their race or ethnicity, or their family’s economic standing,” said Alicia Guevara Warren, Kids Count in Michigan project director at the Michigan League for Public Policy. “Just as past policies and practices have created these disparities, using a racial equity lens and a two-generation approach to develop policy solutions can help resolve them. In order to have a vibrant state for us all, lawmakers need to make sure all kids in Michigan thrive.”

In Washtenaw County, the number of students receiving free/reduced price school lunches rose from 10,151 kids in 2008 to 12,888, a 30 percent increase. County-wide, 27.9 percent of students receive free/reduced price school lunch.

There were 455,357 Michigan kids in poverty in 2008 compared with 481,421 in 2015. The numbers peaked in 2012 at nearly 550,000. In 2015, 47 percent of black and 30 percent of Latino children lived in poverty.

Several counties across the state have poverty rates of more than 28 percent.

Rates in Wayne, Roscommon and Lake counties were among the highest. Livingston, Ottawa and Oakland counties had some of the lowest child poverty rates.

Washtenaw County ranked 5th for child well-being by county, according to the 2017 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book released today by the Michigan League for Public Policy. No. 1 is the best in the state.