Thread: Why more Hispanic children are living in poverty: A Q&A

nj.com
By Star-Ledger Staff
Star-Ledger Opinion
Published: Friday, December 30, 2011, 8:07 AM

More Hispanic children — 6.1 million — are living in poverty than children of any other racial and ethnic group, according to the Pew Research Center’s analysis of 2010 U.S. Census data. To find out what’s behind the numbers, editorial writer Linda Ocasio spoke with Elsa Candelario, executive director of the Hispanic Family Center of Southern New Jersey; Kristin Nicely Colangelo, the center’s program director for health, education and family prevention; and Daniel Santo Pietro, chairman of the public policy committee of the Latino Action Network.


Daniel Santo Pietro, Executive Director of the Hispanic Directors Association of New Jersey, is pictured in this Star-Ledger file photo.

Q: What were your thoughts when you read the poll numbers?

Candelario: It seems Hispanics have been overrepresented in negative statistics as long as I can remember: drop-out rates, teen pregnancy rates, health outcomes, higher level of diabetes and heart disease, that kind of thing. Even those who are documented, and second and third generation, are living in poverty. Forty percent of Hispanics are uninsured, not because they are undocumented, but mainly because they work in small businesses and service sector jobs where they are not covered. Large numbers got into deceptive subprime mortgages that wiped out their savings. Statewide, Hispanics rent far more than own. State policies and initiatives ought to be directed toward turning these numbers around.

Q: How does the number of undocumented affect the numbers?

Santo Pietro: Many undocumented don’t show up in Census numbers. People are caught in all kinds of gray areas here — some undocumented, some in between who are trying to gain legal status. They’re suffering from the vagaries of immigration law. There were 400,000 deportations nationwide last year, and 350,000 of them were of a noncriminal nature. They were working parents who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Families lost a wage earner and they’re in crisis.

Q: What other factors affect Hispanic families?

Santo Pietro: Specific industries that employed Hispanics were hit hard by the economic downturn. Construction was one of the areas hardest hit and 25 percent of the Hispanic workforce is involved with construction nationwide. In New Jersey, landscaping and housing construction were hard hit. Another portion of the population is involved in small businesses. A large portion isn’t college educated. In general, people without college education are caught in a pinch.

Candelario: They also work in restaurants, bodegas, beauty salons. Landscaping is a big one in the spring and summer. Many of these small businesses have been affected by the recession, which has affected employment opportunities.

Nicely Colangelo: Teen unemployment has gone through the roof. Lots of retailers have closed and those are the jobs teens entering the job market seek out. We have many populations vying for low-level jobs who were not vying for them several years ago.

Q: Are you seeing people who were once middle class, or mostly those who were living close to the edge of poverty?

Candelario: It’s both the middle class and those close to the edge. We see it in the Puerto Rican, Mexican and Dominican communities, the three largest groups in Camden. These are families with multiple children, who need concrete support, such as help with utilities, mortgage, food, medical expenses, back rent. They are facing all kinds of issues regarding the necessities of life and making ends meet.

Nicely Colangelo: We have a high increase in the number of people coming in for very basic services. It used to be a matter of case management and they were able to move forward. Now, there’s no light at the end of tunnel, they’re in a hole, with no living-wage employment. Many are going into training programs, but there are no jobs waiting for them. It’s really devastating.

Q: How have state cuts affected these families?

Nicely Colangelo: We are seeing families that were relatively stable coming in with no employment opportunities. Puerto Ricans (who are U.S. citizens at birth) can access programs easier. Family struggles have gotten worse, with after-school program cuts. New Jersey After 3 was hit hard in the first wave of cuts last year. New Jersey Family Care eliminated many immigrant parents. Families say they are struggling with the decision of whether they can afford to work, because they could no longer afford child care or health insurance.

Q: What are the consequences of having an increase of Hispanic children in poverty?

Santo Pietro: Hispanic children are becoming a larger percentage of the student body around the state. If we’re not successful in educating these children, New Jersey won’t have a workforce to get us out of recession and into recovery. You need to see these children as part of a stronger state and thriving economy. We have to do something to turn this around. It’s a benefit to the whole state.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_pag...ldren_are.html

"Sorry Snooki"

I wonder where they got their statistics from. If it's from the school lunch program I can tell you without a doubt that this story is wrong. Audit the parents to make sure they qualify for school lunch and you'll find that most are not living in poverty. Most lie and say they live alone and make $1,200 a month just to get free school lunch and all the freebies that go along with it.

I know a few illegals I used to work with when I had a job back in 08, who lied and said the same thing, that they were a one income household. They recieved other benefits as well. They use the system with their deciet.

Yeah, they claim to be "single" moms with no man's income around while gobbling up all the freebies they can. Meanwhile Papi goes out in the new Escalade and works under the table 40 hours a week under a false ID. They rake in the bucks depending on how many kids they can have between them.

Teen unemployment has gone through the roof

Teen unemployment in the African American community is around 50%. I'll wager it's because illegals have taken the jobs traditionally filled by teens. In our area, we can't place an order at McDonald's because the staff barely speaks English.

Originally Posted by Mayday

I wonder where they got their statistics from.

From this:

Childhood Poverty Among Hispanics Sets Record, Leads Nation
The Toll of the Great Recession

September 28, 2011
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The spread of poverty across the United States that began at the onset of the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and accelerated last year hit one fast-growing demographic group especially hard: Latino children.

More Latino children are living in poverty -- 6.1 million in 2010 -- than children of any other racial or ethnic group. This marks the first time in U.S. history that the single largest group of poor children is not white. In 2010, 37.3% of poor children were Latino, 30.5% were white and 26.6% were black, according to an analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

This negative milestone for Hispanics is a product of their growing numbers, high birth rates and declining economic fortunes. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Hispanics today make up a record 16.3% of the total U.S. population. But they comprise an even larger share (23.1%) of the nation's children, a disparity driven mainly by high birth rates among Hispanic immigrants.

Read the full report for discussion of the factors explaining this trend and how the recession reversed a pattern where more white children lived in poverty than Hispanic children prior to 2007. The report also explores the varied impact of the recession on different subgroups of Latino children.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2108/his...erty-recession

The full report above links to: http://www.pewhispanic.org/?p=147&src=prc-headline

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Teen unemployment in the African American community is around 50%. I'll wager it's because illegals have taken the jobs traditionally filled by teens. In our area, we can't place an order at McDonald's because the staff barely speaks English.

Yup, black teens have been hurt by illegal immigration and they have been hurt for long time. During my freshman year of college, I worked a young black woman who grew up in San Diego and she said as a teen she had trouble finding work in retail and fast food due to those places hiring Mexicans and it is likely some of them were illegal. I have encountered quite a bit fast food workers who barely speak English. There are a couple of Wendy's restaurants in my area that don't employ people with poor English skills. I went into a Wendy's a few days back and the cashier was Asian who spoke English well and the crew was all speaking English.

Originally Posted by Mayday

I wonder where they got their statistics from. If it's from the school lunch program I can tell you without a doubt that this story is wrong. Audit the parents to make sure they qualify for school lunch and you'll find that most are not living in poverty. Most lie and say they live alone and make $1,200 a month just to get free school lunch and all the freebies that go along with it.

Originally Posted by Kiara

I know a few illegals I used to work with when I had a job back in 08, who lied and said the same thing, that they were a one income household. They recieved other benefits as well. They use the system with their deciet.

Many people who are illegals and even some who are legal or US born lie about their incomes to gain access to school lunch programs and other resources.

Welcome to ALIPAC Diane85 Glad to have your input here.

W