Children most at risk in Brooklyn, Bronx neighborhoods
More than half of children are living in poverty in some New York City neighborhoods.
That is one of the startling statistics in “Keeping Track of New York City’s Children,” a new report issued today by the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.
According to the report, children in Bronx and Brooklyn neighborhoods are the city’s children who are most at risk.
In Brownsville, for example, 52 percent of children live in poverty.
And in the Bronx, four out of 10 children were living below the poverty line in 2011, the report stated.
“For far too many New York City children, the cumulative barriers to well being – poverty, food insecurity, unstable housing and lack of access to essential programs – are great,” the group’s director Jennifer March-Joly said.
The Bronx neighborhoods identified in the report as highest risk were Hunts Point, Mott Haven, Morrisania, University Heights and East Tremont.
That borough also has the highest unemployment rate and an increasing percentage of children receiving public assistance, according to the report. It also has the highest teen birth rate, although that has dropped in the last few years.
Additionally, the Bronx has the most children in foster care, the group reported.
In Brooklyn, the data was still sobering, although a bit more positive – about one third of children are in poverty there.
Neighborhoods where kids face the highest risk are Brownsville, Bedford Stuyvesant, East New York, Bushwick and East Flatbush.
