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The children of Michigan, like those in many other states, are becoming increasingly ethnically diverse. In 2000, just 27 percent of all Michigan children were children of color. By 2010, this figure had grown to over 31 percent. If the trend continues, Michigan’s child population will be majority children of color in a few decades time. These shifting demographics make urgent the need to address head-on deep and persistent disparities in outcomes for children of color in Michigan.
At Michigan’s Children, we believe that all children have the right to equal opportunities and resources in order to realize their full potential, and intentional efforts to reduce disparities by race are crucial to the State’s economic recovery. Many racial disparities start at birth and, unless quickly addressed, can adversely impact a child for their entire life. Inequity in birth outcomes and literacy development result in differences in behavior, intellectual functioning and health, evident as early as 9 months of age. This gap then contributes to differences in educational success, high school graduation and college enrollment, leading to clear disparities in earnings over a lifetime. Unless intentional action is taken, disparities will continue to grow in Michigan as the population becomes more diverse. Addressing these disparities by providing essential supports early in life and targeted initiatives through education, career and family success are critical to a brighter future for Michigan.
Unfortunately, on numerous measures, children and families of color are faring worse in Michigan than their White counterparts:
- African American babies in Michigan are three times more likely to die during the first year of life compared to White babies.
- Over half of all African American children and just over 44 percent of Hispanic/Latino children under the age of five live in poverty compared to 19 percent of White children under the age of five.
- Nearly 20 percent of Hispanic/Latino children in Michigan lack health insurance, compared with 10 percent of African American children and 7 percent of White children. Regardless of insurance status, White children in Michigan see physicians twice as often as children of color, receive higher quality care, and are less likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes.
- Racial and ethnic disparities in educational achievement in Michigan are among the worst in the country, with African American and Hispanic youth more than twice as likely as White youths to drop out of school. In Detroit, 50 percent of African American males do not graduate within four years of high school.
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What Michigan's Children is Doing |
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At Michigan’s Children, we believe that racial and ethnic disparities must be reduced so that all children have equal opportunities to thrive. We work with policymakers, advocacy partners, community leaders, and parents to advance public policies and programs to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in child wellbeing.
Specifically, Michigan’s Children’s priorities in reducing racial disparities will focus on the following areas:
- Increase access to health services that result in healthy mothers and children.
- Increase access to home visiting and family support programs for low-income children and children and families of color.
- Increase access to high quality child care and preschool programs, which have proven to reduce racial gaps in educational achievement.
- Support multiple pathways to graduation, including alternative and community education options and partnerships between community college and workforce development agencies.
- Provide incentives for schools to establish effective discipline alternatives and support truancy prevention and credit recovery initiatives that utilize strong community partners.
As a part of the Race Matters project, Michigan’s Children seeks to not just draw attention to these inequities in outcomes, but also offer solutions to policymakers and members of the community as to how these disparities can be addressed and how not addressing them will hurt Michigan’s economic future. This will be done through engaging people who are disproportionally impacted by laws and policies in the policymaking process by increasing civic engagement. We will also work with policymakers to clearly display how the policies they pass will serve to either increase or help alleviate racial and economic disparities and why it’s important for them to be aware of these issues in policymaking.
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Subscribe to Michigan’s Children’s e-bulletin for policy and budget updates related to equity.
Make a donation to Michigan’s Children to support our equity work. |
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See our reports on the Race Matters section of our Library, and by accessing the following websites and reports:
- Visit the PolicyLink website. PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by “Lifting Up What Works.”
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