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Child Poverty: North Escambia Has One Of The Worst Zip Codes, And The Best, In Escambia County.
June 23, 2020
The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Prosperity Initiative is working toward reducing the number of children in poverty in the state to less than 10% by 2030.
According to the group, 21.3% of children in Florida, including 22.3% of those under 18 in Escambia County, live below the federal poverty guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In the North Escambia area zip codes north of I-10, there is a wide range of poverty levels, from the lowest in the county to one of the highest.
The 32568 McDavid/Walnut Hill zip code has just over one-third (34.5%) of all children under 18 living in poverty. In fact, it’s the third highest poverty rate in Escambia County, behind the 32501 zip code at 47.7% and 32505 at 37.6%.
In contrast, at 5.4% the 32533 Cantonment zip code had the lowest percentage of children living in poverty in Escambia County.
Click the map above to see the child poverty rate by zip code in Escambia County.
Comments
17 Responses to “Child Poverty: North Escambia Has One Of The Worst Zip Codes, And The Best, In Escambia County.”
It is a different situation now for young people. If you are over 40 and own a house consider yourself lucky. Both my adult children are responsible hard working ppl and most of their income goes for rent. No they are not parents. Ppl assume a lot on here but from what I have witnessed in my part of town is young ppl working a full time job and then going to a second job. Ironic that with all this new housing construction going on the young people and senior citizens in this county struggle to find decent housing.
Pfft Anne how do you know Cantonment has higher amount of 2 parent homes.
Emily..You are spot on with the basic problems our country faces. I think a good starting point forward would be to look at other countries that have the things we strive for and model ours after them.
Poverty is a condition or way of life that is learned and passed from generation to generation. It will take an outside force that is strong enough to overcome these learned behaviors. Whether it be a teacher/mentor who is able to break through the chains of poverty and instill a sense of confidence and purpose or a government plan which provides an intense training program which would constitute giving a hand up, not a hand out. The youth of this country are our future and if we don’t get a grip on the fact that some families/parents are lacking in resources, both financial and mental to produce a properly educated and productive member of our society, then we are doomed. It really does take a village and people who are only worried about their own little personal tribe, with the mindset of “I’ve got mine, forget about you” are going to see this experiment of a young country continue to climb. It’s going to take resources to get the youth out of the cycle of poverty. It needs to be done with a measured plan and outcome. The end result will be three fold. Our government has become a football league trying to beat the other team. It’s not helping anyone or anything to keep fighting each other, all the while wasting resources in useless projects and military weapons. The pen is mightyer than the sword. This country has gone through much upheaval and it could be blamed on growing pains. You take many different cultures, religions and political differences; then throw them into a pot and stir. Thus, we have the great American melting pot. It’s been a challenge since the beginning. George Washington believed that we should only have one political party because he thought a two party system would cause too much in fighting. Perhaps, he was right. The only thing I know for sure is that we are sorely lacking in capable and caring leadership. The politicians have forgotten who put them in office and soon they are receiving campaign donations from lobbyists and corporations to which they will be beholding to them, instead of the people who elected them. There should be term limits on the time they spend in Congress and the Senate. Lifetime politicians need to be eliminated. They become stale and cynical. Their impressive salaries and excellent health care insurance are provided for by the taxpayers money and yet they don’t want the American people to have basic healthcare like the rest of the developed countries in the world. But, I digress. My point is that we have to make some changes in how this country is run. Poverty is a powerful chain, but it can be broken with the proper planning and tools. And of course, positive people who are interested in keeping America, and our unique experiment of this new country alive and thriving.
Ok. Enough. Not all people are sitting around getting food stamps. Some are working and they supplement thiere income like it’s suppose to do to help. However. Raise minimum wage and wouldn’t have to supplement right.Florida is a retirement State. Low wages. Realtors make out Tourist town.ya know. Lottsa people just staying to help out elderly parents who moved here. There is no way I would live here if not for that. Check out big companies and towns. And …. Move if your not happy. Have a nice day.
Wow I love how all you wonderful loving compassionate citizens of our great state jump straight on the food stamp and free money train of thought when you here the government wants to raise children up out of poverty.
You really think Uncle Sam is going to be handing out EBT cards and free checks to people on the street? Nope instead it will be things like better education programs designed to help under performing children do better in school and give them opportunities to advance to college that they would not otherwise have. Programs children in the rest of the county already enjoy such as magnet schools and trade schools.
Why do children in that area of the county not already have these you might ask? Well the common sense answer is because they live in the middle of nowhere and have only a few schools to attend. Is that the parents fault or the states? And before you say “the parents” I’d like to state that if you fell that way then I as a taxpayer am in favor of closing half the schools after all you agree your kids don’t need them.
So to summarize more schools better school programs more equal opportunities.
Will this be like “the war on drugs”? Government has been fighting that sense the 60s and it’s worse not better.
I am a foreing National, and I have worked and gone to school to better myself. I am not rich, but live a good life. I can take international vacations, I can go shopping and I do not depend on the government for assistant. I think this great country offers multiple opportunities but a lot of people do not want to take it and likes to get stuff the easy way. Hard work, organization with your finances are 2 of the things people can do to get out of poverty. Sometimes in my opinion is pure laziness, they only wanna be smoking and drinking and partying all the time… Blah!
@ Debra…… Minimum wage jobs are not meant to support a family, they are an introduction into the workforce. If you owned a business and paid the majority of your employees minimum wage would you be able to keep all of your employees is the minimum wage was raised by a dollar an hour without raising the cost of your product or service? Simple math would provide an answer. If you are unhappy with your pay get into an occupation that provides an apprentice program and as your skills grow so does your pay. There are other solutions and with some effort the rewards are satisfying. Expecting the government to provide us much easier and that is the solution for many.
You don’t think the
ridiculously low starvation wages has anything to do with it. Florida sucks
Raise the state minimum wage to a living wage. Eight dollars an hour is not livable. I work with many young people who are working 2 to 3 jobs. They are unable to get ahead. They cannot take care of themselves let alone a family. If you have a family to support, this is not the state to live in.
bringing children and their families out of poverty. that is certainly a decision that the PARENTS should make not tax payers. if the parents refuse to go to school or college and desire to stay one food stamps and not marry the men that father their children, then that is exactly what happens, they stay in poverty. I worked 3 jobs to keep my family out of poverty. no food stamps or gov help. it was certainly my choice to not go to college and so I had to work extra hard. if I can do it with 2 young kids at home so can anyone else. even with giving them free childcare and food and rent and EVERYTHING they get for free, they can’t be bothered to educate themselves to make a better way of life for their family. so, don’t ask me to spend more in property tax to foot THIER bills. the problem is the free stuff they get. they are so used to it, it scares them to do better. why work if your given everything for free. no matter how much poverty it puts you in, its free if they just sit on their butts and let tax payers foot the bill. only when you limit what they get for free, will they decide they HAVE to work and make things better.
@Dwn “There are about 15 factors that keep people from getting out of poverty.”
Would you please share this information. Thank you.
let me think back to my childhood…
single uneducated mom: check
moved around a lot: check
very poor: check
mom who teaches you to be modest: check
Modesty, respect and humility are disappearing in this age of twitter wars.
I wonder if there is a graph comparing our county as a whole to the rest of Florida or the national average? Okay I checked National and Local via legit state and fed sources, were rated 34th in the country with 14% of our peoples in poverty. Local was a bit more complex with Florida having 67 Counties Escambia appeared to be not great but not bad, So Average for Florida and Middle of the road Nationally. I did definitely see where there is room for improvement. As data was compiled via Snap and Census and Income values.(One Fact that must be known is there are different definitions of the poverty rate from different sources, Meaning we could be better or worse than the stated numbers)
Yes, Anne. Getting a job is, naturally, a major step in rising out of poverty.
Having both parents is also important. And, having kids once educational levels are achieved helps, as well.
High divorce rates and unestablished family structure impact generations. As a result, inheritance across generations becomes fragmented. Current generations receive little or no inherited wealth, which perpetuates generational poverty.
Similarly, lack of legal structure (wills, trusts) allow probate court decisions and costs to impact generational inheritance.
It’s not just a matter of marriage and getting a job. There are about 15 factors that keep people from getting out of poverty.
“The Florida Chamber Foundation’s Prosperity Initiative is working toward reducing the number of children in poverty in the state to less than 10% by 2030.”
How? Inquiring minds would like to know.
GOOD for Cantonment.
No Doubt that the TWO-Parent Homes where both are present has a huge impact on the lowering of poverty and the raising of child expectations to do well in life.
So much more to say but have to get the kids fed and then me off to work.
OH…Yeah, another thing to Lift Out of Poverty without being a drain on the public is to GET A JOB.!!!!!