Report: Oregon kids stuck in high-poverty areas

Economic expansion after the Great Recession of 2008 has done little to get Oregon children out of high-poverty neighborhoods, according to a new report.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation measured the number of children living in areas of concentrated poverty — census tracts where poverty rates are 30% or more — and found Oregon’s rate stayed at 7% across two time periods: between 2008 and 2012 and between 2013 and 2017.

That rate is lower than the national average of 12%. But the head of Children First for Oregon, Jenifer Wagley, said that isn’t something the state should necessarily be proud of, given how many kids still are living in poverty.

“Our nation is in the midst of a long period of economic expansion, but yet we still have stagnant wages, rising housing costs and for some — in rural Oregon, in these pockets of concentrated poverty — there’s just an inaccessibility to job opportunities,” Wagley said.

She said the nation as a whole isn’t doing well at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in poverty numbers, and Oregon is no different. The report said the portion of African-American children in Oregon living in areas of concentrated poverty is 14% — twice the state’s overall rate. And that number is 20% for Native-American children.

Scot Spencer, associate state director of advocacy with the Casey Foundation, said growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods affects practically every part of children’s lives. They tend to lack access to healthy food and quality medical care, often face greater exposure to environmental hazards and can experience higher levels of chronic stress linked to diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Spencer added that when these children grow up, they are more likely to have lower incomes than children who have relocated away from communities of concentrated poverty.

“Living in high-poverty neighborhoods puts young people at risk,” Spencer said. “And we think that they really deserve to live in communities where they can learn, play and grow.”

The Casey Foundation report offered some remedies, including property-ownership models that preserve affordable housing and ensuring all neighborhoods have quality schools, access to job opportunities, reliable transportation and safe places for recreation.