New York Times
April 30, 2003
Report Finds Number of Black Children in Deep Poverty Rising
By SAM DILLON
The number of black Americans under 18 years old who live in extreme poverty has risen sharply since 2000 and is now at its highest level since the government began collecting such figures in 1980, according to a study by the Children's Defense Fund, a child welfare advocacy group.
In 2001, the last year for which government figures are available, nearly one million black children were living in families with after-tax incomes that were less than half the amount used to define poverty, said the new study, which was based on Census Bureau statistics and is to be released publicly today. The defense fund provided a copy in advance to The New York Times.
The poverty line for a family of three was about $14,100, the study said, so a family of three living in extreme poverty had a disposable income of about $7,060, the study said.
In early 2000, only 686,000 black children were that poor, the study said, indicating that the economic circumstances of the United States' poorest black families deteriorated sharply from 2000 to 2001.
Deborah Weinstein, the director of the division of the Children's Defense Fund, who oversaw the research that produced the study, said its release had been timed to influence the national debate over President Bush's tax cut proposal, which her group opposes, as well as deliberations in the Senate, where the 1996 law that reshaped the nation's welfare landscape is up for reauthorization.
The Children's Defense Fund has been a consistent critic of the vast overhaul of the American welfare system carried out during the 1990's. "The study shows that in the first recession since the welfare law took effect, black children who have the fewest protections are falling into extreme poverty in record numbers," Ms. Weinstein said. "So as we consider our federal policies, are we going to help children who need help the most, or rich people who don't need help at all?" ...
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/30/national/30POOR.html>
Carl
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