Barbour County's children most affected by poverty

Editor’s note: We’re looking for story ideas regarding the county’s high poverty rate. If you have an idea or would like to be contacted for a story, please call 687-3506 or e-mail pjohnston@eufaulatribune.com.

It’s called the Matthew Effect - the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

And the poor aren’t the only ones becoming poorer in Barbour County.

Recent statistics by the Alabama Poverty Project show that poverty rates spiked in most Alabama counties, including several counties in the Wiregrass. The 2009 poverty line is just $22,050 per year for a family of four. 

Barbour County’s poverty rate increased significantly between 2008 and ’09, from 24.5 to 32.8 percent. That’s nearly double the rates reported by surrounding counties such as Henry (18.7 percent), Houston (17.7 percent) and Russell (19.9 percent).

“We knew that the recession hit Alabama hard and deep,” said APP executive director Kristina Scott in a news release. “This new data helps us paint a picture of where poverty has increased the most and where the needs are the greatest.”

According to Census Bureau estimates, the need in Barbour County is great. Alabama is the ninth poorest state in the country with a statewide poverty rate of 16.6 percent, and only five other counties in the state have a higher poverty rate than Barbour County.

Poverty and children

High poverty in the county may not be a phase. The county’s youth are growing up in the midst of economic hardships. The number of persons under the age of 18 in Barbour County living in poverty is estimated at 41.2 percent. That means nearly half the children in the county are considered poor.

That percentage surprises Eufaula Primary School Principal Suzann Tibbs. She believes it should be higher.

“We have so many kids here on free and reduced lunch, I really would have thought (the poverty rate for children) would be much higher, like 70 percent easily,” she says.

Tibbs and her staff focus on helping kids, from every socio-economic background, achieve their highest potential. The challenges for impoverished children, however, are monumental.

“The cycle of poverty is so hard to break,” she says. “But we know education is the key to getting out of poverty. The problem is most of these kids come in with a disadvantage, and the achievement gap only increases once they’re here. It’s the Matthew Effect; the name is actually taken from the Bible. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That’s what it’s like for a child of poverty entering the school system unless we do something to help them bridge that gap.”

The “currency” for children coming into their first year of school is not money; it’s vocabulary words. The amount of words a child knows has a direct reflection on their reading skills. Tibbs says a “rich” vocabulary comes from a number of factors, but it especially comes from the way parents talk to their children.

“There’s a lot of research that shows children from impoverished families typically come into school knowing fewer words than children from middle class or wealthy families,” says Tibbs.

Most of this achievement gap is situational. Parents from impoverished families may not have as much time to read to their children because they are working multiple jobs or are just tired at the end of a long work day. People from impoverished backgrounds tend to speak using fewer words, as well.

Read more on this story Tuesday in The Tribune.