Economic Security

June 24, 2024 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia Ranks 35th in 2024 Kids Count Data Book Analysis

West Virginia News - Recent reports have shown positive improvements in children’s health in West Virginia. Read the full article. The 2024 Kids Count Data Book ranked West Virginia 35th nationally in the category of health, a four-place improvement from last year’s ranking. Indicators such as low birth-weight babies, children without health insurance, child and…

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June 13, 2024 by WVCBP
A Foster Care System in Crisis: West Virginia Faces a Legal Reckoning

NBC News, Yahoo News - During her roughly four years in West Virginia’s foster care system, Nahomi Bennett says she bounced around among more than a dozen facilities — so many that she lost count. But there is one she can't forget: the group home where she was living when, she says, an older boy raped…

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June 12, 2024 by Seth DiStefano
Us & Them Encore: SNAP — Do The Hungry Get More Policy Than Nutrition?

West Virginia Public Broadcasting - Forty-two million Americans, or about 12 percent of the the population, need help feeding their families.  Read the full article. That help often comes from a federal program called SNAP — which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps. The Mountain State is one of the top…

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June 11, 2024 by Kelly Allen
National Analysis Of W.Va. Children Offers Solutions To Declining Math, Reading Scores

West Virginia Public Broadcasting - National academic assessments have shown the pandemic students across the nation lost ground in both reading and math. One study is pinpointing the investments needed to be made in education to ensure future success. Read the full article. The Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation indicates West Virginia…

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June 10, 2024 by Kelly Allen
Report: WV Kids Face Sliding Reading, Math Scores

Public News Service - Math and reading proficiency among West Virginia kids has worsened over the past five years, according to new data. Read the full article. The latest Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed in 2022, 85% of the state's eighth graders were behind in math and 78% of fourth graders…

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June 10, 2024 by Kelly Allen
KIDS COUNT Gives West Virginia Poor Grades in Children’s Health

Dominion Post, Aol - The 2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book is out, and while West Virginia is steadily climbing rungs in its general showing from last year, the state still remains in the lower tier of the nation related to children’s health. Read the full article. West Virginia’s composite rating was 35th in the country –…

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June 10, 2024 by WVCBP
West Virginia Ranks 44th in Overall Child Well-being But Makes Strides in Health Metrics in 2024 KIDS COUNT Data Book

For Immediate Release: June 10, 2024 Contact: Sean O'Leary, (304)-400-8899 Charleston, WV – West Virginia improved its children’s health ranking compared with recent years, coming in at 35th among the states according to the 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how kids are faring in post-pandemic America. The…

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June 9, 2024 by WVCBP
DC Elites Spark Boom in Poverty-hit State – Locals Left Living in Cars

MSN - Washington DC's wealthy remote workers are ditching the nation's capital for the country roads of West Virginia - pushing up rent costs in the poverty-stricken state and pricing out locals. Read the full article. A shift to remote working during the pandemic has enabled DC's top earners to relocate to rural areas and…

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May 23, 2024 by Rhonda Rogombe
Study Shows More Cabell County Residents Losing SNAP Benefits

Huntington Herald-Dispatch - Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has lifted pauses on SNAP benefit time limits that helped more able-bodied adults without dependents have access to food without restrictions. Read the full article. Now that these time limits are back, hundreds of adults in Cabell County have lost their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance…

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