Library Closings and Child Poverty
Children in Poverty, Library closings
this map was provided by Mr. Luigi at Young Philly Politics.
Please note that the darker the area, the higher the rate of child poverty: 41.57% or more.
Also note that all but two of the libraries slated for closure are in the areas with the highest poverty.
Those two that aren’t in the highest poverty areas are so close to those areas that they might as well be part and parcel.
We live in a city where 8200 kids drop out of high school every year (warning pdf). A city where many schools don’t even HAVE libraries, so teachers depend on the nearest branch as a supplement.
It’s an unquestionable fact that kids from lower-income and impoverished neighborhoods don’t have the samer resources as kids from wealthier neighborhoods. And we know that without a high school diploma or the equivalent, these kids are more likely to live in poverty, are more likely to receive welfare, and are at higher risk for criminal behavior. Their kids are more likely to drop out, more likely to become pregnant as teenagers, and more likely to live in poverty as adults. We also know that:
Numerous studies demonstrate that increasing graduation rates will produce major positive impacts in many areas of our social and economic lives.
◆ A national study by economist Cecilia Rouse at Princeton University shows that over a lifetime, an 18-year-old who graduates earns $260,000 more than a person without a high school diploma, and contributes $60,000 more in federal and state income taxes.
◆ If all Americans who receive public assistance and are dropouts had instead earned a high school diploma, the savings in federal welfare spending would range from $7.9 to $10.8 billion each
year, according to an analysis by Jane Waldfogel at the Columbia University School of Social Work. This helps to underscore the importance of both education and work on the road to self-sufficiency.
◆ A study by Enrico Moretti at the University of California at Berkeley found that a one percent increase nationally in high school completion rates of men 20- to 60-years-old would have saved the United States as much as $1.4 billion annually in reduced costs from crime….Based on projections from research, over their lifetimes those 8,200+ dropouts [in philadelphia alone, ed.] represent a loss of more than two billion dollars in income that could have purchased goods and services and fueled our regional economy, and costs to society of another 500 million dollars in lost tax revenues that could have helped to support essential services and to improve the quality of life for our citizens. Not to mention the social and emotional toll it takes on communities, parents, and the youth themselves.
Mayor Nutter surely knows this: for years he has trumpeted his commitment to literacy and to cutting the high school dropout rate. His wife is a leader in the field, committed to education.
So why, in the face of an economic crisis, is he trying to systematically dismantle the very resources he KNOWS will help lift kids out of poverty, that he KNOWS supplement our failign and decrepit schools, and that he KNOWS provide individuals and families an open door to self-improvement, opportunities for higher education, and access to sustainable employment?
Why is our mayor turning his back on the poor, showing them not only the back of his hand, but an extended middle finger?
Is it because he doesn’t think that poor people matter? Is it because he’s given up on philadelphia? Is it because he never intended to keep his promises to begin with? Or is it because, as mr. Luigi so cogently puts it, he’s “in love with his own sense of authority, so much so he ignores lots of people speaking common sense to him over and over again and rigidly clings to his “experts” advice - even when their input may be misguided by a limited and self-serving agenda.”
Beats me: but the fight goes on to save our libraries, and to save our city. Call your council rep and tell them to stand up for the libraries, the pools, and the fire departments.
One Response to “Library Closings and Child Poverty”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
[...] I’ll add that of 11 libraries slated for closure, 9 are in neighborhoods with a child poverty rate of 40% or higher, …. [...]