Human Service Summit: Growing Poverty

The trend most people at the Summit wanted to discuss was growing poverty — poverty in Johnson County is growing twice as fast as the national average for suburbs; people living in poverty are widely scattered geographically.  To people delivering social services in Johnson County this isn’t news.  But it is news to a majority of the county’s residents, including civic, business and political leaders.  How does an affluent community engage in a conversation about poverty? 

It seems that helping civic, business and political leaders understand the impact of poverty on our public schools may be a place to start.  Johnson County prides itself on its outstanding school system, and rightfully so.   But as more students live in low income families, can we expect the same level of overall academic achievement?   Research consistently shows that poor children are more likely to do worse on measures of school achievement than non-poor children are.  Also, poor children are twice as likely as non-poor children to have repeated a grade, to have been expelled or suspended from school, or to have dropped out of high school.  

One indicator of child poverty is enrollment in the National School Lunch Program.  Enrollment in the program tripled for every district during this decade.   Nearly 19,000 students, more than 1 in 5, were enrolled county-wide during the 2009-10 school year.  About 1 in 11 were enrolled in 2000.

There are strategies that can make a difference, but first it will take civic, business and political leaders who understand the consequences of doing nothing.