12,700 Children Reported Living in Poverty

Even with a strong economy, a new study shows that more than 12,000 Ventura County children under the age of 5 live in poverty, which child advocates say will stunt their ability to learn and limit their income potential as adults.

The rates of local poverty cut across all ethnicities, but affect Latinos and African Americans most severely, the study says, adding that more than 30% of those children live below the federal poverty level of $16,540 a year for a family of four.

The study, produced by the Oakland-based advocacy group Children Now, also said the high cost of rent and child care in Ventura County is beyond the means of families relying on the earnings of minimum-wage workers.

Children Now found that of the 71,758 youngsters in the county 5 years and younger, 17.8%, or about 12,700, live below the poverty level. Across California, nearly 30% of children up to age 4 are considered indigent. The figures are based on Census Bureau data from 1995, the most recent available.

But even with such numbers, Ventura County is among the five best-rated counties in the state in terms of well-being. Based on the general health of its youngest residents and the fact that relatively few of them are on welfare, Ventura County places fifth out of the state’s 58 counties, behind Marin, Placer, San Mateo and Sonoma.

Each year, Children Now conducts a survey of the well-being of the state’s youth in a range of areas, including prenatal care, rates of how many are in foster care, and proficiency in English and math.

This year, the group focused on poverty among the youngest children because of its effect on the early years of physical and cognitive development.

The group said it also hopes to influence politicians at the county level as they develop services and programs for the neediest youngsters using funds generated by the Proposition 10 tobacco tax.

In Ventura County, with child care averaging up to $600 a month and rent eating up around 80% of the earnings of a worker paid minimum wage, Lois Salisbury, president of Children Now, said: “If you’re really a family of four living at the poverty level, you can’t pay these prices. You’re just cobbling a life together every day . . . and something’s got to give.”

Salisbury said families living in strained circumstances either sacrifice food, health care or a safe place to live, and that such deprived children show up in the schools unprepared to learn.

“Those children pay and we pay because they end up needing extra attention and, to get it, we’ll have to rob Peter to pay Paul,” she said. “In the long run, they’re not going to be the learners and earners we want them to be.”

Ventura County’s ranking in the top five was based on several factors, including fewer children born to mothers with less than 12 years of education, the percentage receiving welfare and low infant mortality rates, compared to other counties around the state.

Salisbury also praised the county for its low teenage birth rate, above-average test scores and more than 96% of expectant mothers receiving prenatal care.

But she and other members of Children Now cautioned that some figures from the study, such as the total number of children in poverty, should raise red flags.

Amy Dominguez-Arms, policy director for Children Now, cited a higher student class size and lower per-pupil expenditure than the state averages.

The group also pointed out the large numbers of eligible families who do not participate in the Woman, Infants and Children federal food subsidy program. More than 46% of those eligible do not receive WIC coupons available to families living at the poverty level, the study shows.

Charles W. Weis, county superintendent of schools, said he was disappointed to hear that the per-pupil expenditures for 1998 were nearly $300 less than the state average of $4,938, but he said the amounts paid to each district are not easily controlled because most financing comes from the state.

“We have a relatively wealthy county, but not a wealthy school district, because our property tax goes to funding other districts,” he said. “That’s how it works.”

Weis also said he was not surprised that average class sizes exceeded those elsewhere in the state, because all the school districts in the county, except in Ojai, are expanding.

Lynda Ann Young, chief of the nutrition program for the county’s public health department, disputed the WIC nonparticipation figure cited in the study, but said she knew of people who are eligible who don’t use the program, which provides coupons for such staples as milk, cheese and eggs.

Young said the working poor assume that they are not eligible and do not apply for such aid, even though many meet the federal poverty requirement.

“They might think because they are working, they can’t qualify,” she said.

County Supervisor Kathy Long, who chairs a commission created to decide how Proposition 10 funds are spent locally, said she plans to promote the use of the WIC program in reaching out to the working poor. The coupons can save families up to $300 a month in groceries.

Long agrees with Children Now that there is a connection between a child’s poverty and his or her mental and physical health, and she anticipates using the results of the study and others like it in planning services and programs that will be created with the new tobacco tax money.

Helen Reburn, director of the transitional assistance department in the county’s Human Services Agency, said the study shows that far too many families are working at entry-level jobs that do not move them out of poverty.

Citing that as one of the challenges her department faces in moving people from welfare, Reburn added, “It’s not enough just to make that first job. You need continuing education, job skills and supportive services, like assistance in paying for child care.”

Ventura County’s Children

*--*

California County County average average rank * Children living in poverty (0-17 years) 24.3% 13.8% 14 Children living in poverty (0-4 years) 28.6% 17.8% 14 Children receiving welfare (0-17 years) 15.2% 6.7% 7 Children receiving welfare (0-5 years) 16.3% 8.0% 7 Children receiving special assistance (0-4 68.4% 53.7% 49 years)

*--*

* Compares Ventura County with the state’s 57 other counties; 1=Best, 58=Worst

Source: Children Now, 1999 report