Calhoun's youth are going through a lot of pain right now, with high risk statistics in several categories including:"Poverty has put more children at risk than any other factor recently, according to a national survey on children's health and well-being, whose results were released Tuesday.
The annual Kids Count state-by-state survey by the Annie E. Casey Foundation says 26 percent of children in Calhoun County lived in poverty between 2005 and 2007. The rate of children countywide eating government-subsidized lunches nearly doubled from 25.7 percent in 1990 to 45.3 percent in 2007."
- Teen pregnancies
- Teen Drop-outs
- Unemployment among dropouts
"Calhoun County had the highest percentage of high school dropouts between 2005 and 2007 -- 11 percent annually -- with the next closest counties reporting 8 percent of students ages 16 to 19 dropping out."The Community Indicator System in development by PRI and the Lewis Walker Institute will give a better mapping of the services in the county, as well as the areas where teens are struggling most. It is important that we understand the areas in which they needs are highest before we begin trying to fix them.
Programs like the Kalamazoo Promise won't be able to succeed unless we give families the sufficient support they need to support youth education. Only then will we see a reduction in poverty substantial enough to affect the community as a whole.
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