9:32 a.m., March 25, 2009----More than 250 leaders in Delaware, including Gov. Jack Markell, Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, cabinet heads, legislators, educators and others gathered early Monday morning, March 23, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington to learn firsthand about the findings of the 2009 Kids Count/Families Count fact book.

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Kids Count is in its 14th edition and is funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Families Count is a collaborative project of the State of Delaware and the Kids Count project, which is housed in the University of Delaware's Center for Community Research and Service.

The project is coordinated by director Terry Schooley, an assistant policy scientist at the center who also serves as Delaware's 23rd District representative, and Janice Barlow, assistant policy scientist.

Schooley welcomed the audience and introduced Markell, who addressed the group. Markell said children are the center of his commitment to Delaware and said that all Delawareans had to work together through this incredibly difficult and challenging time, citing rising unemployment with more families turning to the state as revenues decline.

Markell spoke of his three governing principles-fiscal responsibility, compassion and shared sacrifice in terms of education and helping children. He pointed out that government cannot do it all, and cited the need to reach out to volunteers in the community.

Barlow made the presentation for Kids Count/FamiliesCount, saying this year the focus was on children in poverty. She spoke on the findings of the Kids Count report in Delaware on such poverty factors as low birth rate, infant mortality, single parent households, teens giving birth, teen deaths and mental health issues.

Barlow said 13 percent of the children in Delaware live in poverty (less than $16,705 for a family of three) and 33 percent live in low-income families. These children tend to have poor health, do not do well in school and drop out, and can become involved in crime. She also pointed out that single parent families are on the rise, headed mostly by mothers, who have high poverty rates.

Reading and math scores in the Delaware Student Testing Program are rising for all children, but children from low-income families tend to have lower scores.

Barlow ended her talk by encouraging the audience to participate in the Governor's Summit on Child Poverty and Economic Opportunity, “Building Bright Futures: Advancing the Child Poverty Agenda,” on April 22 at Dover Downs.

The Kids Count/Families Count fact book is 180 pages of graphs and data interspersed with photographs of Delaware kids at play, at home and in school. Each chart is organized with explanations of the data and related paragraph -- “Did You Know?” and “Put Data into Action.”

Barlow said the Center for Community Research and Service compiles data from state organizations for the study, pointing out that while the statistics are current, they do not reflect the economic meltdown that is now happening.

Kids Count/Families Count is a valuable resource for making policy decisions, meeting community needs and creating advocacy programs that make a difference, she said.

For more information on Kids Count and to register for the “Building Bright Futures” conference, visit the Web site.

Article by Sue Moncure
Photo by Kathy Atkinson