Upholding Dr. Martin Luther King’s Vision of Equity for Children
This guest post is written by Cassandra Joubert, ScD, director of the Central California Children’s Institute at California State University-Fresno.
As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday and his life’s work to achieve fair and equal treatment for the disenfranchised, we pause to reflect on the persistence of racial and ethnic disparities in child well being, and how we can more intentionally activate his vision today.
Significant racial/ethnic differences persist in children’s access to quality health, dental, and mental health care, proper diagnosis and treatment for conditions such as ADHD and autism, birth outcomes, and access to preschool and quality education.
In the San Joaquin Valley, we are particularly concerned about the impact of race and ethnicity on boys and men of color. The Central California Children’s Institute’s data chart book, Boys and Men of Color: Fresno County, California, documents racial/ethnic disparities in socioeconomic status, health care utilization, safety and educational attainment.
The vision we hold for children of the San Joaquin Valley, as articulated in the 2010 Central California Children’s Agenda, is that “(our) region prioritizes and ensures a healthy and prosperous future for all children and families.” Indeed, as we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday, we realize that in our nation and region, efforts to achieve equity must continue.
In 2014, the Children’s Institute will increasingly apply an equity lens to our work. We will be revamping one of our key publications, “Our Regional Children’s Agenda: Child Well-Being Indicators,” to not only stress racial/ethnic disparities in childhood outcomes, but also call attention to structural barriers to equity. Inequities in access to high quality, culturally appropriate health care; livable, safe neighborhoods and environments; preschool education; and healthy foods produce disparities in child well-being.
Not only will we document racial/ethnic disparities in outcomes (i.e., lower academic achievement, higher juvenile arrest rates, more untreated mental health challenges, etc.), but we also will attempt to secure data that demonstrate structural inequities in opportunity, services and supports that require policy change.
As an example, inequities in preschool availability are a structural barrier, which, if changed, would greatly improve kindergarten readiness and academic achievement for children of color.
According to kidsdata.org, the percent of third-grade students in the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley who scored proficient on the English Language Arts California Standards Test ranged from 36–44% in 2012, well below the state’s 48%. Further, kidsdata.org shows that with the exception of one county, the availability of child care was below the potential demand in 2012.
By calling attention to the need to expand the availability of affordable, high quality, center-based care, we hope to accelerate academic achievement and prosperity for our entire region. The Children’s Institute is a member of the San Joaquin Valley team of the national Place Matters health equity movement led by the Joint Center on Political and Economic Studies. The Place Matters team is a key partner in this work.
Fifty years ago, Dr. King said: “Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God’s children” and “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
In Central California, we are sharpening our lens on equity to propel Dr. King’s vision of fairness and democracy for all. For more information about racial equity in child well being outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley, visit www.centralcaliforniachildren.org.
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