Despite Small Gains, Scourge Of Child Poverty Continues

Published October 18, 2016 at 12:40 PM EDT

A homeless child plays while staying at the Atlantic City Rescue Mission on Aug. 26, 2015 in Atlantic City, N.J. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Fifty-two years after President Lyndon Johnson declared his “War on Poverty,” 20 percent of the country’s 74 million children live below the poverty line — many well below.

The recently released 2015 U.S. Census data show some improvement over 2014, but those gains don’t affect the children who live in the poorest households.

Today, unlike 50 years ago, children growing up in poverty are made constantly aware of the economic gaps. That awareness starts in early childhood — when the newest episodes of educational television shows like “Sesame Street” are behind a paywall — and continues to adolescence, where social interaction, media and even educational resources are dependent on expensive phones and laptops.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young checks in with Renee Wilson-Simmons, director for the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.

Guest

Renee Wilson-Simmons, director for the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The center tweets @nccpnews.