Study: Hispanic Kids Are The Poorest In The U.S.

By Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez / Senior Field Correspondent

Published September 29, 2011 at 12:35 PM PDT

This story was published more than 13 years ago.

Dr. Mark Hugo Lopez, Ph.D., Associate Director, Pew Hispanic Center.

Pew Hispanic Study

Hispanic children now make up the largest group of kids living in poverty. The Pew Hispanic Center report says the increase in poverty can be attributed to the grim economy.

The study shows 6.1 million Hispanic children are poor, compared to 5 million white, non-Hispanics, and 4.4 million black children.

This is the first time poor Hispanic children outnumber other racial groups.

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Mark Hugo Lopez is the Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center. He says the U.S. recession is the largest reason for the problem, in addition to population growth and high birth rate.

"What’s interesting about this is that Latino children make up a quarter of the nation’s children, Lopez said. "And how these young people mature, the kind of adults that they become, will have implications for the nation as a whole simply because they are such a large share of the nation’s children population."

He adds that one in five children of all races, nationwide, live in poverty, which is defined as a household income of just over $22,000 for a family of four.

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez

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Nadine is a Senior Field Correspondent (Phoenix) who focuses on stories throughout the southwest and issues that directly affect Arizona’s Latino community. She is an Emmy-nominated journalist and a Telly Award winner. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and earned a Masters in Education from Northern Arizona University. She comes from a lengthy background in communications. Her broadcasting career includes Arizona’s PBS station KAET-TV. She was a producer and correspondent for the public affairs programs Horizon and Horizonte. While in Chicago, she hosted on-air bilingual pledge drives for WTTW Channel 11 (PBS), making her the only bilingual pledge host at the time. She was a general assignment reporter for Tribune Company’s ChicagoLand Television News, Univision affiliate WCIU-TV Channel 26 and WYCC-TV. She also worked for Comiskey Park (now U.S. Cellular Field), the home of the Chicago White Sox and United Center (Chicago Bulls) Scoreboard Operations. She co-produced a bilingual television parenting program on both Chicago’s Telemundo and WYCC-TV Channel 20. Aside from her broadcasting career, she served in various roles in public relations, community outreach, and marketing. Her extensive public sector experience extends to several departments of the City of Chicago, Mayor’s Advisory Council on Latino Affairs, and the U.S. Congress. Other professional experience includes Vice President of Community Outreach for the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee. Currently, she mentors and teaches public radio writing and reporting to inner city students and participates in journalism workshops for high school students throughout the Phoenix area. Her goal is to teach journalism in a higher education institution, while continuing her mentorship initiative. She was born in Puerto Rico to Puerto Rican and Belgian parents, and raised on Chicago’s southside in La Villita (a predominantly Mexican community). This diverse background taught her valuable lessons in various Latino cultures and informs her insight into issues of great interest to Latino families and business community.

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