CHICAGO, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A cycle of poverty ensnaring nearly 1-in-5 young people in Illinois could doom many to a lifetime of homelessness, drug abuse, mental and physical illness and lifelong poverty, an analysis of poverty trends found.
The problem is not exclusive to the big city of Chicago. It exists in areas of 33 counties on a Teen Poverty Watch List.
Consider these ominous signs that place 175,000 teens at risk.
-- More than 36,300 kids dropped out of high school in Illinois in 2003. Nearly 25 percent of young adults in the state had not completed a high school diploma or earned a GED -- the worst non-completion rate in the 12-state Midwest region. Three-quarters of state prison inmates did not finish high school.
-- High school dropouts were 72 percent more likely to be unemployed than graduates, dropouts headed 50 percent of households on welfare, the daughters of teen parents were 83 percent more likely to have an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and two-thirds of poor families headed by a teenage mother lived in poverty.
-- Illinois had the third-highest rate of teen poverty among Midwest states: 12.7 percent among 12- to 17-year-olds and 18 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds.
-- Between 60 percent and 80 percent of homeless teens reported physical or sexual abuse by a parent or guardian. The state had the highest rate of children under 18 without healthcare despite efforts to enroll poor children in state KidCare and Medicaid programs.
The study found poverty rates for youth ages 12 to 17 increased in 34 Illinois counties between 1990 and 2000. Poverty among 18 to 24-year-olds rose in 39 counties.
"Economic insecurity for families, inadequate investment in youth programs and increasing barriers to educational achievement are all significant contributors to the rising teen-poverty rate in Illinois," said Sid Mohn, president of the Heartland Alliance, which prepared the state's report on teen poverty.
Child poverty is a social time bomb that eventually will impact all state taxpayers in increased crime, welfare or prison costs. The statistics show high school dropouts face a future of chronic poverty and decisions made by confused or victimized children must not doom them to miserable self-perpetuated poverty.
About 18.5 percent of youths between ages 12 and 24 were mired in deep poverty, defined as below 50 percent of the federal poverty threshold of $9,200 for a single person.
The 2004 "Report on Illinois Poverty: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty for Illinois Teens" found the number of youth in chronic poverty would exceed the population of Aurora, the second-largest city in Illinois.
Some 26,000 teens and young adults are left to fend for themselves during a typical a year. Their vulnerabilities and high-risk behavior can lead to lifelong poverty.
A recent survey of 200 homeless youth conducted by the Heartland Alliance in Chicago found 44 percent had been wards of the state, 41 percent has previously been homeless, 33 percent had been the victim of a physical attack, and 20 percent had been sexually assaulted after leaving home.
Many come from broken homes where poverty left parents with such gut-wrenching decisions as whether to buy food or pay the rent; whether to pay utilities or buy school supplies.
"What we're attempting to do with this study is call to light this issue now, so that we can attempt to break the cycle later," said Amy Rynell, director of the Illinois Poverty Summit told CLTV, a cable outlet. "There are many factors that lead to futures of poverty, and what we're trying to do is stop that. One big cause among youth is dropping out of high school."
Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston found summer 2004 was one of the worst for teen-age jobseekers in 57 years, with 3 million teens wanting a job and not finding one. From June through August, slightly less than 42 percent of teens 16 to 19 years old were employed. Only 24 percent of African-American youth found summer jobs, 33 percent of Hispanics and 46 percent of white teens.
"The low unemployment rate during the past summer was not a result of a lack of interest in work by teens, but rather because of an inability of teens to find work when they did look and the perception by many teens that no work was available," said Andrew Sum, an economist at Northeastern's Center for Labor and Market Studies.
"Only 22 of every 100 black teens living in a low-income family in a central city were employed during the past summer vs. 31 of every 100 black teens living in a central-city family with an income between $40,000 and $60,000 and 63 of every 100 white teens living in a family outside of a metropolitan area with an income of $100,000 or more."
The bipartisan Illinois Poverty Summit plans hearings in Chicago and around the state to develop effective ways to break the fight childhood poverty.
"The members of this task force recognize that teen poverty has become a very serious problem in Illinois, and because of this, we look forward to examining this issue and devising ways to reduce the number of these cases," said state Rep. Beth Coulson, R-Glenview and co-chairwoman of the task force.
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