- African American Youths are the most disenfranchised of all youths; therefore, they are the most likely to suffer the most.
- Unlike Latinos, African Americans have no legal defense and education fund, no youth foundations, and consequently, no highly organized year round activities lead by African Americans.
- In America’s biggest state, more than 8 million people struggle to meet their everyday needs.
- Over one-quarter of children live in poverty.
- “Everyone knows it’s an issue,” says John Husing, an Inland Empire economist. “But no one is talking about it.”
Poverty in California
- California typically has a higher poverty rate than the rest of the nation. For most of the past two decades, California’s poverty rate
- African American and Latinos have higher poverty rates than other groups.
- African Americans (24.2%) and Latinos (23.6%) have much higher poverty rates than Asians (12.6%) and whites (9.8%) in California.
- Latinos and African Americans have higher poverty rates than other groups.
- Latinos (23.6%) and African Americans (24.2%) have much higher poverty rates than Asians (12.6%) and whites (9.8%) in California.
- Poverty varies drastically in accordance with educational level.
In California, education has provided a buffer against poverty in the wake of the Great Recession. In 2011, the poverty rate among families headed by an adult lacking a high school diploma was 36.7% — a 5 percentage point jump from 2010. At the other extreme, in families headed by a college degree holder, the poverty rate was only 5.4%. For families in which the highest level of education is a high school diploma, the poverty rate was 19.9%.
