A few years ago, I became involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters.  My little sister was a young Russian girl named Darla (not her real name).  Her grandmother rescued Darla and her sister from horrendous conditions in a Russian orphanage where their parents placed them after her father was sentenced to prison and their mother could not control her addictive behavior.

The Grandmother and granddaughters immigrated to the Golden State, but they live in poverty in one of California’s richest cities. They live in a small, rent-controlled apartment with two bedrooms. Darla’s grandmother sleeps on the couch so that each girl can have her own room.  They do not have a car, and despite Darla’s grandmother’s age of 85, she attends community college so that she can receive grant money that helps with expenses.

Darla has behavioral problems, difficulty concentrating in school, poor nutrition and myriad of health problems that require specialized care her grandmother cannot afford. My relationship with Darla and her family was an up-close and personal view of poverty in California and how it significantly impacts the children who live in it.

Darla’s story is not unique. The Public Policy Institute of California recently reported that using the California Poverty Measure, one-quarter of California’s children are in poverty, and an additional 26% live in “near poor” households. Children live in poverty at twice the rate of seniors. This is so concerning because not only does childhood poverty affect brain development, health outcomes and lack of success in school, but it is also cross generational.

According to a recent study from Columbia University’s National Center for Children in poverty, 45 percent of the people who spent half of their childhoods in poverty were also poor as adults. A recent article published by the Center for the Next Generation concluded that California counties with the highest number of college graduates have the lowest rates of childhood poverty and vice versa.

Some argue that safety-net programs, such as CalFresh, CalWorks and even tax credits, are critical to reducing childhood poverty. Even though the goal of these programs may not be to directly reduce childhood poverty, families gain vital resources to meet other basic needs. Others advocate that policy makers should increase funding to schools in the highest poverty districts and improve access to safety-net programs. One example of how counties are trying to meet this challenge is the implementation of My Benefits CalWin and C4yourself which provide a single online portal for applicants to apply for cash, food or medical assistance.

Regardless of your prospective on the issue, we can all agree that tackling the issue of childhood poverty is critical to the economic future of the state.  Children like Darla deserve a chance to succeed in school, become employed and raise their own children above the poverty line.

Next up in our series on poverty-your brain and poverty.