Dogwood study: number of WNC under-6 kids who live in poverty; likely underestimated

ASHEVILLE - A new early childhood study created by the Child Care Services Association and funded by the Dogwood Health Trust found 22% of Western North Carolina children under the age of 6 live in families making less than the federal poverty level.

The new study, titled “Early Care & Education in Western North Carolina: An Overview to Better Serve Young Children, Families and Programs,” aggregates the most recent data on young children under the age of 6 living in the counties Dogwood serves: Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania and Yancey.

Amy Barry is executive director at Buncombe Partnership for Children, an organization dedicated to studying and strengthening local early childhood education.

“I think it can only be positive,” she said of the study. “It elevates the issue and hopefully will help reach an even larger audience.”

Dogwood’s credibility is important, she said. The report could help local governments who have not yet invested in early education to do so.

Related:$3.5M pilot proposal aims to boost Buncombe pre-K, create classrooms, raise teacher pay

“This would give them a lot of context and understanding about how critical this issue is and what it means in the short term for kids and families and what it means for employers who can’t find employees because they don’t have child care. ... We have child care deserts in Western North Carolina. They certainly exist in other parts of the state, but it’s a really big issue here.”

Buncombe's work with Partnership for Children is already tackling some of these issues head on.

It recently invested $3.2 million in BCPFC to expand NC Pre-K in a pilot program, boosting local funding for individual centers and raising teacher pay by thousands over the next two years.

More education coverage:

• 2 Buncombe County Schools superintendents, highest-paid employees, to retire this year
• After 'devastating' Asheville Primary closure, $200 Pre-K increase 'blindsides' parents
• As Buncombe 2023 budget year looms, schools employees continue calls for better pay

'Likely an underestimation'

Early education, not poverty, was the focus of the Early Care & Education study, but it analyzed the relationship between the two. 

The study found about one-fifth or and estimated 11,000 children under 6 live in families that earned below $27,479, the federal poverty level for a family of four. The study compared data through February 2022 to data from 2020 and 2019.

An estimated 50,000 children under 6 live in the 18 studied counties, according to the study.

According to the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, the amount needed to meet the living income standard in Buncombe County is currently $72,700 for a family of four and $64,330 for a family of three.

The situation for children under 6 is likely worse than the 22%, however.

“Such (a) number is most likely an underestimation of the number of children affected by low incomes as the National Center for Children in Poverty suggests that families would need nearly twice the poverty threshold amount to be able to meet their needs,” the study states.

There is an upside to this data, however. According to the study, that 22% is much lower than data from February 2020, which found 33% of WNC children below the age of 6 lived in households making less than the federal poverty level.

This suggests “the positive effect of policies implemented during the peak of the pandemic,” the study states, but then adds a caveat: “These policies have, however, been rolled back or eliminated since.”

Poverty factors play directly into the study’s core, three-part question: “What is the current status, across the 18 counties served by Dogwood, regarding 1) young children and their families, 2) characteristics of early care and education programs and 3) families’ process and young children’s enrollment in early care and education programs?”

Finding child care is difficult for families, the report concluded, especially during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of WNC families seeking child care for kids aged 1 day to 5 increased 73% from February 2020 to 2022, the study found.

Moreover, the cost of child care is high.

Five-star child care centers in the 18 studied counties cost more than $800 a month as of February 2022 and $700 per month for four-star centers.

“Families with lower income may have no choice but enrolling their children in child care centers offering a lower quality of care,” the study concludes.

Families in poverty can receive financial support to access early care and education for their children through child care subsidies.

But that’s not happening for many.

“Looking at the population of children under 6 living in poverty, more than 7,000 children did not benefit from subsidy child care,” the study stated, noting again that number is higher considering households making more than the federal poverty line need much more to earn a living in WNC. 

Narrowing in on education and care opportunities for young children, the study’s central subject, it also discussed potential deficiencies in educator pay and benefits and failure to meet “high quality” criteria.

These problems aren’t isolated to the 18 counties, the study emphasized in its conclusion.

“The challenges of the counties served by Dogwood Health Trust are, alas, nationwide, and need significant policy changes to be addressed,” the study stated.

It called for “significant” policy changes and actions at federal, state and local levels.

Child Care Services Association President Marsha Basloe is set to present these findings along with members of the research team at an Aug. 2 webinar. Those interested in attending can sign up at dogwoodhealthtrust.org.

The study is one of two in 2022 funded by Dogwood that put a magnifying glass to matters related to poverty. In January, the Bowen Report was released, documenting a wealth of data on housing and income in WNC. It found 125,000 people in the mountains live in poverty.

“Dogwood is intentionally focused on gathering key data and resourcing studies that fuel and support our strategic priorities and the work of partners in the region,” Dogwood Health Trust CEO Susan Mims said in a news release. “By funding reliable studies, research and initiatives that focus uniquely on our region, Dogwood can help provide data for informed decision making. We hope that our partners and others in the ECE ecosystem find this comprehensive study to be a valuable resource.” 

Andrew Jones is Buncombe County government and health care reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.