Poverty

Indicator Definition
The percentage of teens (ages 13 – 17 years) who live in a family with an annual income below the federal poverty level, which in 2006 was $20,614 for a family of four.

Adolescents living in families with income below the federal poverty level in Colorado4

Adolescents living in families with income below the federal poverty level by race in Colorado5

Indicator Significance
Low-income adolescents are more likely to be uninsured and therefore less able to see a health care provider regularly. Lacking insurance, they may forgo wellness checkups, eye exams, acute and chronic illness care and preventive dental care. Adolescents who live in poverty are at increased risk of suicide, school violence and gang involvement, yet they have the least access to much-needed mental health care.¹

Colorado Specifics
Colorado’s 10 percent adolescent poverty rate is 14th lowest among the states. The rate has stayed relatively constant since 2000. Adolescents living in poverty are found in Colorado’s urban and rural communities. Poverty disproportionately affects minority adolescents. Both African-American and Hispanic adolescents are much more likely to be living in poverty than their white peers. These large disparities in adolescent poverty rates help explain the ethnic disparities in other health indicators.

Promising Initiatives
In Colorado
An increasing number of programs serving low-income adolescents have been launched in the past 10 years. In Prowers County, 19 percent of families live below the federal poverty level. The county has been designated both as a medically underserved area and a health profession shortage area. In August 2007, school officials announced that a School-based Health Center (SBHC) will be established at Lamar High School to meet the physical and emotional health care needs of students. As of January 2007, Colorado was home to 34 SBHCs and one mobile van serving students, 60 percent of whom come from low-income—and likely uninsured—families.²

Elsewhere
In 2003, the governor of New York released $25 million of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding to create summer employment opportunities for the state’s teenagers. Since then, the program has employed 25,000 to 50,000 teens annually. The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) received an additional $15 million to support jobs for youth ages 14 – 21. SYEP gives teens the chance to gain valuable work skills while earning a summer income. In the longer term, it provides career awareness, financial literacy and interpersonal skills for them. The philosophy of the program is that education provided in the work setting has the potential to help adolescents escape poverty by imparting important work readiness skills.³

Adolescents living in families with income below the federal poverty level by race in Colorado⁶

Text

1. “The Impact of Poverty on Adolescent Health,” Adolescent Health, National Association of Social Workers
   
2. “School-based Health Care Launched in Lamar,” The Lamar Ledger, Aug. 3, 2007
   
3. Summer Youth Employment Program, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development
   

Charts

4. Source: Colorado Health Institute analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 2000 – 2006.
   
5. Source: Colorado Health Institute analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 2004 – 2006.
   
6. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2004 – 06