An annual report released by Rhode Island Kids Count, a children's advocacy group lauded by state and local officials for their in-depth analyses, was unveiled Monday at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. The sprawling 196-page report provides key insight into issues facing children in the Ocean State, shedding light on economic, health and housing concerns and the impact they have on Rhode Island families.

The report was revealed during a breakfast event attended by numerous state officials and policy advocates, including Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Gabe Amo, and Young Voices co-chair Wujuudat Balogun.

Key to many of the findings is the increasing diversity of the state’s population. This was particularly noted by Paige Clausius-Parks, Executive Director of Rhode Island Kids Count, who emphasized that Rhode Island’s population will continue to diversify and that disparities must be eliminated to ensure an equitable future for its youth.

The findings note that while Rhode Island’s overall population has grown, its child population decreased by 15% since 2000. The state has also become more racial and ethnic diverse in recent years, in line with national trends. From 2018 to 2022, 63% of children identified as white, 8% as Black, 4% as Asian/Pacific Islander, 1% as Native American, and 25% as another race or two or more races.

The diversity of the state also lent credence to notable inequities which intersect race, health and wealth. The findings found that “Black youth were 11 times more likely to be at the Rhode Island Training School compared to white youth,” with Hispanic youth five times more likely and Native American/Alaska Native youth three times more likely to be at the Training School.

Along with this, the report showed that, while school attendance in Rhode Island is at the highest in the nation and chronic absenteeism has fallen in the wake of a sweeping promotional campaign by the state, “The students with the highest level of chronic absence were also in the populations hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” with Hispanic, Native American, and black K–12 students showing higher rates of chronic absence than Asian and white students.

These education related inequities were particularly highlighted by Tricia Rose, the Chancellor's Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, who spoke on the necessity that “we look at how schools factor into the school-to-prison pipeline,” and of the historical connection in Rhode Island between housing discrimination and school performance.

Perhaps most striking in the annual report is the struggles regarding housing availability and affordability, and the numerous ways Rhode Island children and families are impacted. The state ranks 10th in the nation and fourth in New England for median family income, but last in the nation for housing development with an annual income of $84,270 necessary to afford the average rent.

Rhode Island law stipulates that 10% of each community's housing stock must qualify as low income housing, but only five of Rhode Island's 39 cities and towns meet that goal. Paired with a child poverty rate of 11% and food insecurity rate of 38%, the lack of affordable housing in the state has been observed to have an inequitable and cascading effect on its youth.

The full factbook further touches on community, safety and further equity disparities.