By Sarah LaddKentucky Lantern Many of Kentucky’s children continue to live in levels of poverty that child advocates call  “unacceptable.” The Kids Count Data Dashboard, released by Kentucky Youth Advocates Thursday, shows that about 21% of children are living in food-insecure households, 20 % live below the poverty level and 44% live in low-income households. Kids Count is part of a national initiative by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and measures child well-being based on a variety of measures — education, family life, trauma, incarceration and more. In Eastern Kentucky, about 40% of children are growing up in childhood poverty, according to Terry Brooks,  executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. “Rates of poverty for Black kids in Kentucky continue to be at an unacceptable disproportionate rate in every corner of the state,” Brooks said. About 31% of Black children and 23% of Latinx children in Kentucky live in poverty, higher than 17% of white children. Other takeaways from the report include: In 2023, child poverty rates improved in 111 of 120 counties compared to five years previous, but 1 in 5 children overall continue to live in poverty. In five counties, all in Eastern Kentucky, child poverty rates are higher than 40%. From 2019-2023, 45% of Kentucky households had a high rental cost burden, with renters spending 30% or more of their income on rent plus utilities. During this time, 70 counties experienced improved rates over this time period compared to 2014-2018. In the 2024-2025 school year, the high school graduation rate improved overall to nearly 94% from about 91% in 2019-2020. About half of fourth graders were at least proficient in reading in the most recent school year, with 89 of the state’s 169 school districts with available data reporting lower reading proficiency rates than in 2023-2024. About 40% of eighth graders were at least proficient in math in the last school year. In 2023, about 97% of Kentucky children had health insurance. From 2021-2023, 1 in 10 Kentucky mothers smoked during pregnancy, an improvement from 2016-2018. From 2022-2024, Kentucky had a rate of 39.4 per 1,000 Kentucky children in foster care, lower than the rates in 2017-2019. The state’s percentage of children exiting foster care to reunification with a parent also improved in this time period to 38%. “Let’s be very clear: This data is critical if you care about kids. It can and it should shape our direction as a state,” Brooks said. “The critical point is turning ‘can shape’ into ‘will shape,’ and that ‘will shape’ will only come through decisive action from our lawmakers and Gov. (Andy) Beshear when that opening gavel falls in January. That means budget investments. That means smart policy moves. That means making kids a priority in real and relevant and measurable ways.” Karena Cash, the data and research director at Kentucky Youth Advocates, said food insecurity is also connected to higher rates of obesity. “Often, when we think about food insecurity and hunger, we picture extreme forms of malnutrition, which just isn’t the reality, often, of what food insecurity looks like here in Kentucky” said Cash. “Food insecurity in Kentucky can be very hidden and a lot trickier to identify, because it’s often things like parents skipping meals to ensure that their kids have enough food at dinner, or families choosing between, ‘do I pay my utility bills this month, or do I buy groceries?’ Or, which is the connection to obesity, having to rely on cheap, ultra processed foods in order to make ends meet when it comes to their food budget.” Lack of grocery stores is another factor here, Cash said: “The neighborhood a child grows up in, and, specifically, the proximity to a grocery store within their neighborhood, can strongly influence their access to healthy foods.” Meanwhile, most schools in Kentucky offer free food to children through the Community Eligibility Provision, Cash said. “Schools are a significant source of healthy meals for kids, with research finding that some of the healthiest meals consumed by children in their day to day are coming from their school cafeteria,” she said. Aliete Yanes Medina, a student at Fern Creek High School in Louisville, said she tutors students who face food and housing insecurity. “The data we heard today is powerful because it unites us, establishes a tangible way of showing progress in our community,” Medina said. “But most importantly, this shows that we care. This data reflects kids like the ones I tutor, but also like myself. It gives us a clear picture of how young people are doing across Kentucky but it also reminds us that behind every number is a story, a challenge and a person who deserves support and opportunity.” The post Kentucky children living with ‘unacceptable’ levels of poverty and hunger, new data shows appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less