State and Regional Childhood Poverty Profiles Available

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has published a series of reports documenting the policy initiatives and resources that each state and 10 multi-state regions have dedicated to addressing and alleviating childhood poverty. Each profile includes a scorecard that indicates whether a state has passed specific legislation aimed at improving access to or the quality of health, nutrition, education, parenting, or economic support programs for poor families. Profiles also include demographic and administrative data for children in the respective state or region.

Improving the Odds for Young Children project, NCCP has made available a user’s guide that provides background information on federal and state poverty policies and explains the importance of many poverty-focused initiatives. Where available, the user’s guide includes research results illustrating the initiative’s potential efficacy.

The profiles, user’s guide, and tables comparing the states’ legislative commitments to addressing childhood poverty are available at www.nccp.org/projects/improvingtheodds_stateprofiles.html