California Blues

Despite California now being the 8th largest economy in the world, it’s poor and working people are suffering more than ever according to this article.

One in five San Bernardino County children live in poverty, compared to one in six or 16%before the recession began. In Riverside County where 17 percent of children live in poverty, a growing number of children don’t eat at all when they go home. With the recession children’s health, psychological and social service needs have increased dramatically. Homelessness among Inland children is growing. In the Inland Empire 34% of African American children live in poor families. One-third of Inland Empire public school principals reported increased eligibility for free or reduced lunches/ breakfasts and homelessness among their students, with several of them indicating they had never before seen homelessness in their schools.

Recent findings by other groups that monitor children’s health and wellbeing also reflect a dire state of affairs. A report by the California non-profit, Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP), which compiled data from school districts throughout the state, shows that homelessness among California’s school children has skyrocketed in the last couple of years. In 2008-09, more than 288,000 children were homeless and attending school. This represents a 27 percent increase over the 2007-08 year.

Out of 606,325 San Bernardino County children 20 percent live below the federal poverty line. About 8 percent of children lives in extreme poverty, which means their families have an income of less than one-half of the federal poverty threshold. In San Bernardino County researchers predict that 35% of children will live in impoverished households by 2012.

Nearly 1.5 million California children participate in the federally funded WIC food stamp program.