Class Conscience

At an October 27 Luncheon, the United Way of Greater Duluth released its annual Community Impact Report for 2009. The report is one of the most comprehensive resources for those of us who scrutinize the quality of life in Duluth and how to improve it. This year’s report is not yet online, but other years can be accessed here.

The 2009 report focuses on youth development and education. The statistics included each year never fail to amaze, and this year is no exception. While the authors of the report try to keep things positive with anecdotes of success, the overall picture of the state of our community could be better. Much better. Among the gems:

• “Child poverty in Minnesota rose 33% between 2000 and 2007, six times the national average… Nerly 2/3 of all Minnesota children live in low-income families (200% of the 2008 Federal Poverty Guideline, or $35,200/year for a family of three).”
• “Nearly 20% of St. Louis County children live in poverty. While the largest percentage of the state’s children living in poverty are Caucasian, they represent only 8% of Caucasian children. By comparison, 45% of African American children and 32% of American Indian children live in poverty. This represents one of the nation’s greatest gaps between majority and minority populations in poverty.
• 35% of homeless people in Minnesota are children under the age of 5.
• “Minnesota food shelf visits hit an all time high in the first quarter of 2009, increasing 28% over the same period last year. This growth, reflected in our local experience, follows on the heels of a 30% increase from 2007 to 2008… More than 50% of those served at food shelves are children.”
• “The average cost for full-time, infant, center-based [child] care in St. Louis County is nearly $9,000/year–more than 60% of the annual income of a parent working full time at minimum wage.” Minnesota is ranked near the bottom for affordable quality child care.
• “More than 85,000 Minnesota children are uninsured despite having nearly 80% of all children’s parents in the work force.”
• “It is estimated that 5% of children under 6 have a serious emotional disturbance… 2/3 of them are not being served [through mental health programs].”
• Only50% of American Indian mothers and 62% of African American mothers received adequate or better pre-natal care, compared with 80% of mothers overall.
• 60% of Minnesota students surveyed in 2007 do not volunteer or engage in community service. Nearly 70% do not participate in academic or community clubs,and  75% do not participate in mentoring programs.
• “Key leaders noted that the activities offered in Duluth are very traditional, such as hockey and other athletics, and that the interests of many students are not addressed by such programs.”
• In Duluth, 18.5% of 12th graders reported frequent drinking. 29% reported binge drinking. 24.1% of Minnesota 12th graders reported driving after using alcohol or other drugs and 36.8% reported riding with friends who had been using substances.
• Tobacco use has declined by 31% for high school females since 2005, yet has not changed among males. Though overall cigarette smoking has declined among teens to 19%, there has been no reduction in cigar smoking or smokeless tobacco use, and the percentage who use menthol cigarettes has doubled since 2000, to 40% of high school smokers. The percentage of students receiving formal health education about the dangers of tobacco has declined from 60% in 2005 to 37% in 2008.
• Nearly 50% of all 6th and 9th grade students in Duluth reported that they spend 2 hours or less on homework/studying each week.
• 34.5% of Duluth’s 12th grade students reported skipping school in the past month.
• More than 18,000 children in Minnesota missed more than 10 days of school because of poor health. More than 12,000 of these children were not insured.
• The average graduation rate in Duluth in 2008 was 85.44%, exceeding the No Child Left Behind target of 80%. But African American students graduated at a rate of 59%, well below the target.
• In 2008, an average of 65.8% of Duluth students graduated on time, representing a drop from 68% on-time graduation in 2007. 70% of Caucasion students graduated on time, while only 21% of American Indian, 40% of African American students and 43% of lower-income students did the same.

The statistics are startling, and they paint a fairly disturbing picture of the state of our youth. There are lots of suggestions in the report about what can be done to improve matters, and exhaustive lists of the programs and initiatives already in place. But if in spite of all of these efforts we have witnessed an overall decline in indicators of childhood well-being in Duluth, what does that say about us as a city and the value of the approaches we have been using?

Tonight, two of the four incumbents on the Duluth school board who were up for reelection lost their seats, while three new city councilors were elected. I certainly hope they all read the report and take heed. Bottom line: the children of Duluth are suffering the harshest consequences of low wages, lack of universal health care, a dearth of affordable public child care, and cuts to substance abuse and mental health treatment programs. Traditionalist, standardized, test-heavy school curriculum that doesn’t relate to the situations these kids face is another part of the problem that needs to be addressed. Our future is bleak indeed if these trends continue.