Living in different worlds
American children of different races aren't growing up in a world of equal opportunity, according to data collected by researchers as part of a new project exploring diversity in U.S. metro areas. Helen Palmer reports.
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SCOTT JAGOW: A new report out today draws a bleak picture of the living conditions of some of this country’s children. This information comes from a new website that launches today. It’s called diversitydata.org. From our Health Desk at WGBH, Helen Palmer has more.
HELEN PALMER: Diversity data gathers information from the Census Bureau and academic centers — and reveals broad disparities.
BARBARA KRIMGOLD: Black and white children, to a large extent, are living in different worlds.
Barbara Krimgold of the Center for the Advancement of Health directs the project. She says in areas as varied as health, education, crime and poverty, black children face more challenges than their white counterparts.
Hispanic children do marginally better than black kids, and Asian youngsters are virtually on a par with their white peers.
There’s a report card for cities.
KRIMGOLD: Some cities that really did quite badly in terms of equity for black children were Buffalo, Chicago and New York.
Some urban areas do better by minority children: Denver, Colorado Springs and North Carolina’s Raleigh-Durham area.
Krimgold hopes the website will prod policymakers to develop new methods of tackling urban poverty.
In Boston, I’m Helen Palmer for Marketplace.