Syracuse ranked number one for highest child poverty in the nation

[mahatmakanejeeves]

LOCAL NEWS

Syracuse ranked number one for highest child poverty in the nation

by: Madison Moore
Posted: Apr 25, 2022 / 10:42 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 26, 2022 / 09:32 AM EDT

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV)– Antoinette Singleton’s been walking through the front doors of STEAM at Dr. King Elementary School for 17 years. Every day is different, but it always starts the same way.

“So I actually pick up students who, for whatever reason, they either missed the bus or don’t have a bus, I just say listen, I’m on my way,” Singleton, a school social worker said.

Transportation is just one of the many issues plaguing students at Dr. King as they navigate a city that’s now ranked number one for child poverty in the nation according to new Census Bureau data.

The child poverty rate in Syracuse now sits at 48.4%, a decrease from 49.6% in 2015 but not enough to knock it out of the top stop. ... Rochester trailed behind in second place for cities with a population of 100,000 and Buffalo in sixth.

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[jimfields33]

1. I'm surprised. This used to be such a nice college town.

What the heck happened?

[Hoyt]

2. That's really sad, and unacceptable.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. Wow

It was bad even when my parents lived there 50+ years ago. My mom went to a sort of inner-city church and was a reading tutor in their after-school program--I found out from someone else that she was much loved and the kids called her "Miss Lizabeth". She would tell me things that some of them told her and I would just shake my head. She'd come up in southwest Missouri during the depression so it was not quite as foreign to her, but to me it was another world.