For Kids … Nevada Is The … Worst

The 2012 Kids Count Data Book on the wellbeing of children was released a couple weeks ago. Sad news for Nevada:

• We rank 49th in economic wellbeing.
• 46th in health.
• 50th in education.
• 41st on family and community indexes.

Some other findings:

•  In 2010, 22% of Nevada children under the age of 18 lived in poverty. Between 2005 and 2010, the child poverty rate rose 47 percent, representing an increase of 54,000 children.
• Our state ranks last in the number of teens who don’t attend school or work. Of teens aged 16 to 19, 15 percent fell into that category, a 36 percent jump from 2008, which represents an increase of 7,000 teens. 
• Nevada ranks 50th in the percent of 3- and 4-year-olds who did not attend preschool, as well as the number of high school students who fail to graduate on time. In 2008-2009, only 44 percent of high school students graduated, the same percentage as in 2005-2006.
• We also rank 50th in the number of children under 18 without health insurance.

Wow. So sad. I want Verve to be a part of changing those numbers. That’s part of the reason we’ve adopted Dean Petersen Elementary, a school in a poverty-stricken, gang-infested area, with tons of at-risk kids.

We can’t know these problems exist and do nothing.