In Arkansas, both youth and adult poverty rates have been a concern. Efforts to address these issues involve implementing programs that focus on education, job training, access to affordable housing, healthcare, and support services. Collaborating with community organizations, local government, and businesses can help create sustainable solutions to reduce poverty rates and improve the overall well-being of individuals in Arkansas.
Child poverty:
Refers to the share of children under age 18 who live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. Children living in families lacking secure parental employment are vulnerable. Without at least one parent employed full time, children are more likely to fall into poverty. Yet too many parents who want full-time work are forced to piece together part-time or temporary jobs that do not provide sufficient or stable income; some lack the education and skills needed to secure a good job. Even a full-time job at low wages does not necessarily lift a family out of poverty.
Poverty elevates a child’s risk of experiencing behavioral, social and emotional and health challenges. Child poverty also reduces skill-building opportunities and academic outcomes, undercutting a young student’s capacity to learn, graduate high school and more.
ADULT PORETY:
In Arkansas, the adult poverty rate is approximately 17.3%, according to recent data. This figure underscores the importance of targeted interventions such as job training programs, access to affordable healthcare, housing assistance, and financial literacy education to uplift individuals and families facing economic hardships in the state. Collaborative efforts between government agencies, non-profit organizations, and community stakeholders are crucial in addressing and alleviating adult poverty in Arkansas.
Research indicates that as neighborhood poverty rates increase, undesirable outcomes rise and opportunities for success are less likely. The effects of concentrated poverty begin to appear once neighborhood poverty rates rise above 20 percent and continue to grow as the concentration of poverty increases up to the 40 percent threshold. This indicator defines areas of concentrated poverty as those census tracts with overall poverty rates of 30 percent or more because it is a commonly used threshold that lies between the starting point and leveling off point for negative neighborhood effects. The 2018 federal poverty threshold is $25,465 per year for a family of two adults and two children.
ARKANSAS RANKS:
#45 OF 50 states with child poverty and poor community Development.
Definitions: The share of all children under age 18 living in households by the head of household’s educational attainment.
The data for this measure come from the 2000 and 2001 Supplementary Survey and the 2002 through 2018 American Community Survey (ACS). The 2000 through 2004 ACS surveyed approximately 700,000 households monthly during each calendar year. In general, but particularly for these years, use caution when interpreting estimates for less populous states or indicators representing small subpopulations, where the sample size is relatively small. Beginning in January 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau expanded the ACS sample to 3 million households (full implementation), and in January 2006 the ACS included group quarters. The ACS, fully implemented, is designed to provide annually updated social, economic, and housing data for states and communities. (Such local-area data have traditionally been collected once every ten years in the long form of the decennial census.)
Definitions: Economic Ranks for 2012-2019 for each state using a consistent set of economic indicators; namely those used to derive the rank reported in the 2012-2019 KIDS COUNT Data Books.
The Family and Community Rank for each state was obtained in the following manner. First, using the 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Book to demonstrate, we converted the 2017 state numerical values for each of the 4 key indicators within each domain into standard scores. We summed those standard scores in each domain to get a total standard score for each state. Finally, we ranked the states on the basis of their total standard score by domain in sequential order from highest/best (1) to lowest/worst (50). Standard scores were derived by subtracting the mean score from the observed score and dividing the amount by the standard deviation for that distribution of scores. All measures were given the same weight in calculating the domain standard score.
Children growing up in single-parent families typically do not have the same economic or human resources available as those growing up in two-parent families. Compared with children in married-couple families, children raised in single-parent households are more likely to drop out of school, to have or cause a teen pregnancy and to experience a divorce in adulthood.
Definitions: Children under age 18 who live with their own single parent either in a family or subfamily.
In this definition, single-parent families may include cohabiting couples and do not include children living with married stepparents. Children who live in group quarters (for example, institutions, dormitories, or group homes) are not included in this calculation.
Data Source: Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, 2001 Supplementary Survey and 2002 through 2018 American Community Survey (ACS).
These data were derived from ACS table C23008.
The data for this measure come from the 2000 and 2001 Supplementary Survey and the 2002 through 2018 American Community Survey (ACS). The 2000 through 2004 ACS surveyed approximately 700,000 households monthly during each calendar year. In general but particularly for these years, use caution when interpreting estimates for less populous states or indicators representing small sub-populations, where the sample size is relatively small. Beginning in January 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau expanded the ACS sample to 3 million households (full implementation), and in January 2006 the ACS included group quarters. The ACS, fully implemented, is designed to provide annually updated social, economic, and housing data for states and communities. (Such local-area data have traditionally been collected once every ten years in the long form of the decennial census.)
Definitions: Children were included if the respondent answered that the child had ever experienced two or more of the following adverse
experiences: frequent socioeconomic hardship, parental divorce or separation, parental death, parental incarceration, family violence, neighborhood violence, living with someone who was mentally ill or suicidal, living with someone who had a substance abuse problem or racial bias.
A change is underway in out our nation's approach to dealing with young people who get in trouble with the law. Although the United States still leads the industrialized world in the rate at which it locks up young people, youth incarceration and confinement rates in the U.S. are rapidly declining.
definitions: Persons under age 21 detained, incarcerated or placed in residential facilities.
To preserve the privacy of the juvenile residents, cell counts have been rounded to the nearest multiple of three. "State of Offense" refers to the State where the juvenile committed the offense for which they were being held. The rate is the number of juvenile offenders in residential placement per 100,000 juveniles ages 10 through the upper age of original juvenile court jurisdiction in each State.
Values include persons under age 21 who had been (1) charged with or adjudicated for an offense; (2) assigned a bed in a facility that can hold accused or convicted juvenile offenders; and (3) placed in the facility because of the offense. CJRP does not capture data on juveniles held in adult prisons or jails. Values include both pre-adjudicated and post-adjudicated individuals. CJRP does not include facilities exclusively intended for drug or mental health treatment even though such facilities may house some offenders. There may, however, be numerous juveniles in residential placement captured by CJRP that were receiving such treatment. State refers to the state where the offense occurred.
The information above reports 2011 - 2019 KIDS COUNT Data Books.
U.S. Census Bureau 2004-2018 reports.
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