A chronic condition
In 1977, when as editor of the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record I brimmed with far more hormones and idealized naïve chutzpah than wisdom, I asked my staff to undertake a daunting assignment that involved our 13-person newsroom.
Together, we would divvy up writing and photography responsibilities to spend as long as necessary to try and explain how many children across our state were being raised in poverty with little, if any, hope of ever breaking free from the indelible, rippling despair poverty inevitably creates across society.
We spent months reporting, compiling and photographing and editing until finally publishing a tabloid-sized special report titled “Children of Poverty in the Land of Opportunity.” That was back in the days when “Land of Opportunity” was still our state’s official nickname.
As the editor, I was proud of the staff and the nationally recognized labor of love we’d created together.
I relived those days after seeing the latest results of the Children’s Defense Fund’s analysis of census records last month. The report lists the best and worst states in terms of childhood poverty, and I’m sorry to have to report, valued readers, that hardly anything has changed for the better since 1977.
Back then, we found just over 30 percent of the children in Arkansas lived in homes that fell below a very meager poverty line. This latest study shows that number last year was 29 percent.
That dubious ranking placed us as the third-worst in America behind Mississippi, with 34 percent, and New Mexico at 31.2. So while we’re no longer last in the nation in this unenviable list, it’s clear to me we haven’t done nearly enough to raise this tide that could (and would) lift all boats across our state.
I’m speaking first of education, which is paramount to lifting any state’s economy. But the problem we discovered in 1977 was that in virtually all of these impoverished homes, education was not a priority mainly because it had not been one when the kids’ parents had been young.
In our series, we called this chronic scourge our cycle of poverty because that’s exactly what it was—and obviously remains after so many years and population growth. This is simply unacceptable, folks. We need to do much better and we can if we better focus on the problem.
Here are some other findings of the Defense Fund analysis: More than 30 percent of Hispanic children in 35 states live in poverty. More than 40 percent of black children in 20 states live likewise.
And yes, unfortunately, we in Arkansas are included in those saddest of categories even 37 years after writing about it.
Town versus town
Here’s an idea for youth football across Arkansas, borrowed from the playbook of Tim Stephens and Scott Roberson of Harrison.
If you check their Facebook page (Harrison Pee Wee Sports), you’ll see that Stephens has turned the concept for town-versus-town little league tackle football from his vision into reality.
Funded from his pocketbook and community contributions, Harrison now has its first season of “Pee Wee football” (thankfully no relation whatsoever to the former Pee Wee Rogers of Harrison). The program categorizes kids by elementary grade and, more importantly, each child’s size.
Harrison has three individual teams of thirdthrough sixth-graders. The uniforms and pads are provided. These 10to 12-year-olds play fullfield, P.A.-system-announced games of four 15-minute quarters with referees. A coach from each team is allowed on the field to assist.
The game clock is only stopped in the final two minutes of each half after being allowed to run continuously.
Because teams use the playbook from the Golden Goblins, participants become well familiar with the Harrison High School’s team’s plays and formations.
The city-versus-city concept already exists in Missouri towns such as Hollister. As best I can determine, Harrison’s the only Arkansas town now playing this way, although nearby Berryville and Green Forest apparently are considering forming teams.
This means Saturday mornings this fall find all three grade groups from Harrison either at home or traveling to Missouri to play three separate games in a six-game season.
Various YMCA-like football programs involving younger children in cities have existed for decades to play each other’s teams in local divisions.
“The town-versus-town concept is somewhat different,” said Stephens, whose Harrison Hogs teams played their first home games ever against the Hollister Tigers before about 200 fans in late September.
“So far in the early going, this program has been well-received for the most part and in other communities,” said Stephens. “We also are very careful to closely monitor the health and safety for kids who play.”