A packed town hall meeting in Eureka on Thursday night called for greater collaboration by state and local agencies to address an issue that contributes to many challenges Humboldt County faces today — childhood poverty and trauma.
North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who hosted the meeting, said that despite California being the sixth largest economy in the world, childhood poverty rates have actually increased since the Great Recession began in 2007. In this way, he called it a “hidden crisis.”
“I think that we can all agree that it is absolutely shameful that a state with such abundance has so many kids going to bed hungry every night,” he said to a crowd of more than 200 people gathered at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center, many of whom had to stand. “And to add insult to injury, our youth are also combatting experiences that have lifetime negative impacts on their health and their livelihood.”
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, nearly 23 percent of children in California lived in poverty in 2014, which was up from about 17 percent in 2007.
To continue reading this article by Will Houston, go to: http://www.times-standard.com/...61201/NEWS/161209984
Comments (0)