NORFOLK, Va. — There's been a surge in childhood poverty rates across the country over the last year.
U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday shows child poverty more than doubled from 2021 to 2022. And what's the cause? Many experts point to the expiry of pandemic-era child tax credits and rising inflation.
Some in Hampton Roads told News 3 that our kids are facing poverty at similar rates, and they expect the numbers to keep rising.
ForKids, a 501(c)(3) located in Chesapeake, is one organization that's working to break the cycle of poverty for kids in Hampton Roads.
"Every person [who comes through ForKids] is a member of our community. We're seeing children. We're seeing people who play on our kids' sports teams. We're seeing people who live next door, who we walk past in the grocery store," said a ForKids staff member who showed News 3 a bulletin board covered in small human-shaped figurines.
Each of the dozens of figures on the board represents a person ForKids helped through poverty or homelessness.
"We have seen quite an increase in families experiencing eviction," added the staff member.
ForKids CEO Thaler McCormick told News 3 over the past year the center's seen a roughly 25 percent increase in calls from families dealing with housing instability.
She said the poverty level in Hampton Roads hovers at roughly $1,900 a month, but the average fair market rent for a two bedroom is $1,200. McCormick noted those figures leave just $700 for things like childcare, transportation and food.
She added the burden had been eased for some by pandemic era child tax credits, which have now lapsed.
"What we saw was during the pandemic there were extra efforts made to lift people out of poverty because these families were so precarious," said McCormick. "Well, the reality is these families are still precarious."
Those at the center work to help families find long-term solutions so the kids can gain stability. That's something area schools are working on too.
"It's very difficult to spot and track," said Damion Wilson, coordinator of school social work services and homeless education liaison for Virginia Beach Public Schools. "You sometimes look to see if students who are maybe hungry . . . You look sometimes to see how they do academically if they're showing signs, if they're sleepy or tired. And sometimes the times can be invisible and you just don't know until someone reveals it. A lot of our families have a lot of pride and sometimes don't want to seek help. So it's a very major step for them to ask for assistance."
Wilson said connecting kids with resources is especially important because of the impact poverty and homelessness have on kids' futures.
"We've had students that before they came into our program had gone to maybe five or six schools in three years. So, you can imagine the consistency of them transferring and transferring," said Wilson. "It's well known that students who are homeless do struggle academically compared with their peers. Even our numbers here, there still is a discrepancy . . . So as a school I think we really have a need to really make sure these students, who my grandma would call 'the babies,' make sure they do graduate and have that piece of paper, and so set them up to have a successful life."
Wilson said Virginia Beach Public Schools, at 20%, has seen a smaller increase in poverty rates than other Hampton Roads schools, but last school year Virginia Beach staff identified roughly 1,000 kids and young adults dealing with homelessness and poverty.
School staff and those running local shelters said it's never too late to ask for help.
"For me, poverty is a fixable problem," added McCormick.
For more information on resources or how you can help visit the ForKids website or contact your area school.
