A recap of the week’s equity news

“Study Shows Colorado Has Largest Rise in Child Poverty,” New York Times

DENVER — Colorado experienced the nation’s largest rate of growth in impoverished children from 2000 to 2006, according to a study released Tuesday.

The study, by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, a nonprofit group that focuses on child welfare, said that the most recent census data show that 180,000 children — 15.7 percent of the state total — were living in poverty in Colorado in 2006, a 73 percent increase since 2000.

“Jammed Transit Systems Running on Fumes,” MSNBC, June 11

Transportation experts who have pushed mass transit since the 1970s are getting their wish as soaring gas prices persuade Americans to abandon their cars for buses and trains in record numbers. But as the adage says, be careful what you wish for.

Mass transit ridership is at its highest point in 50 years, according to research by the American Public Transportation Association. For many riders, it just got too expensive to drive.

“How HUD Mortgage Policy Fed the Crisis,” Washington Post, June 10

In 2004, as regulators warned that subprime lenders were saddling borrowers with mortgages they could not afford, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helped fuel more of that risky lending.

Eager to put more low-income and minority families into their own homes, the agency required that two government-chartered mortgage finance firms purchase far more “affordable” loans made to these borrowers. HUD stuck with an outdated policy that allowed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to count billions of dollars they invested in subprime loans as a public good that would foster affordable housing.

A new study in the journal Health Affairs says black and Latino children are more than 12 times as likely as white children to live in “double jeopardy”—to be poor and to live in neighborhoods with limited opportunity. The study argues that public health policies should:

“improve access to opportunity-rich neighborhoods through enhanced housing mobility, and increase the opportunities for healthy living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

The article is included in the March/April 2008 issue that focuses on health disparities and is based on results from studies of neighborhood opportunity in 100 metropolitan areas.

Some facts from the article:

• Nearly 17 percent of African-American children and 20.5 percent of Latino children live in “double jeopardy,” compared to 1.4 percent of white children
• The typical poor white child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty rate is 13.6 percent; for the African-American and Latino child, the rate is nearly 30 and 26 percent respectively
• Differences between African-American and white children were most pronounced in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, and Birmingham, Alabama
• Disparities between Latino and white children were most blatant in the communities of McEllen, El Paso, and San Antonio, Texas; and Los Angeles and Fresno, California

Problems and solutions to issues related to neighborhood opportunity and health were just some of the hot topics discussed at Regional Equity 08. We heard about the New Orleans Food and Farm Network and other efforts across the country that are helping low-income community residents find good food close to home. Can anyone recommend other articles or organizations focused on this work?