Study Finds Best States for Raising Black Children Hardly Have Any
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
A recently released study aimed at uncovering the best states in the US for opportunities for children has uncovered some startling facts about the gap between opportunities for African American and other minority children when stacked up against their white counterparts.
According to the study “Race for Results,” published by the Annie E Casey Foundation, many of the states that fair best for opportunities for African American children have some of the lowest percentages of the ethnic group in the state, including Hawaii, New Hampshire, Utah and Alaska – the top ranked states in the study – which all have less than four-percent population of African Americans.
Rhode Island – which ranked 22nd highest in terms of opportunity for black children – may be in the middle of the pack in terms of creating opportunity for their African American youth, but those opportunities pail in comparison to the ones available for white children.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Data really helps to shine a light on area that need additional focus,” said Elizabeth Burke Bryant, Executive Director of Rhode Island Kids Count. “What we see here is a racial and ethnic disparity; this report definitely underscores that there is much work to be done to close the ethnic gap for the children of Rhode Island and nationwide.”
The study ranks to amount of opportunity that children of a particular background can achieve in a given state based on 12 different factors, including babies born at normal birth weight and young adults ages 19 to 26 who are in school or working. The scores are tabulated and then ranked based on a score of 1,000, with 1,000 being the best score possible.
Opportunities for African American children in Rhode Island scored 372 on the scale, compared to a score of 740 for white children in Massachusetts, which ranks as the 15th best score nationwide. Latino children are also at a disadvantage for opportunities in Rhode Island, scoring 336 and ranking 46th out of the 50 states.
Related Slideshow: The Most and Least Diverse High Schools in Rhode Island
The data below reflects the 2012-13 academic year as provided by the Rhode Island Dept of Education. Values have been rounded to the nearest whole percent.
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