In the last year, Wyoming shot up to 12th place on child and family wellbeing in an annual report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Last year, we came in 23rd. For years, the report has collected data to reflect how families and children are doing across the nation. The Wyoming Women’s Foundation has been using this data to help track what’s going well and what needs work. Micah Richardson is the associate director of policy at the nonprofit. Wyoming Public Radio’s Melodie Edwards sat down with Richardson to understand this year’s report.
Editor’s Note: This interview was edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Melodie Edwards: Can you focus on some of the places that we did improve in?
Micah Richardson: An area that we really did well was our economic wellbeing domain. While our numbers were really strong, we still have 12,000 kiddos who are living in poverty, so that is something we need to think about.
When we're thinking about those supports that help people put food on their table, that help them access the healthcare they need, it's really important that we're considering those families and recognizing that even though a huge portion of them are working, they are still struggling sometimes to make ends meet, and those programs and supports are really important.
The other area that was interesting is children living in households with a high housing cost burden. We have 25% who are still facing those high cost burdens, and I think that is not news to any of us. I think we're seeing the cost of living in each of our cities and towns rise, and so continuing to think about are there local programs that can help support workforce living or low-income living.
I know there have been bills in the past that the state could put forward and say, "Hey, can we do something that sets aside some funding so that cities and towns can really think about development and developing housing for [the] workforce and more attainable housing?"
Then the other domain that we did really well in was the family and community domain. One area where we are consistently faring better than many of the other states those children living in high poverty areas. It has been this way for quite a long time, but it dropped even lower, so less than .5% of our children are living in those high poverty areas. That is a place, I think, as a state to feel good about that. We generally have what we need to help kids and families thrive.
ME: If you have other areas that you feel that you want to highlight in terms of where there were improvements, I would love for you to elaborate.
MR: In that health domain, we are always lower on that ranking. While I don't want to celebrate the fact that there were 31 child and teen deaths per 100,000, that is not great; however, it is five fewer than where we were before, and any progress we can make on that front, I think, is incredibly important.
So when I think about those numbers, and knowing from 2019 and 2023 and then now 2024, those are continuing to slowly go down. We're certainly going to have to watch to know if it's actually a trend or if those numbers are so close that it's just hard to tell.
But I do think the focus on, in the past years, on funding 998 suicide hotline, on thinking about more resources in schools, and how we can better support counselors, that was a bill that came up last year that I will be happy to see continued positive improvement. And just the governor taking initiative to host mental health forums and things like that are those steps that we have taken helping to move these numbers down. I hope we can continue to see those numbers drop.
ME: Where are you seeing that children's wellbeing in our state is declining?
MR: We know it's a national trend that since COVID, the education numbers have dropped. I think it's something that in the K-12 system we need to think about. What kind of steps can we take?
So if we can support the early educational opportunities for families, I think that can go a long way to building the outcomes for our children, which we know then make stronger outcomes for communities, for our workforce, for long-term growth of Wyoming, all of that. Right now, federal-level 21st Century funding comes from the feds, and so ensuring that continues to be sent along to our states to support our kiddos.
But at the state level, are there opportunities to support these sorts of systems? We know that it's good for education, but it's also good for our workforce.
ME: One of the areas that I noticed in terms of children's health in the state that is still a problem is obesity. Can you talk a little bit about that issue?
MR: I cannot give you concrete reasons as to why the numbers shift or what they are. The only things I can think of, total speculation, but I think about our rural communities and access to healthy foods in some of these places. What does food access look like in those spaces as well?
This could also be a great space for and a great reason to make sure that we are keeping PE in the curriculum at the elementary and high school levels, and that we are continuing to support outdoor opportunities for Wyoming's youth.
I know the tourism board has looked at some of how can we engage and put more in place and provide funding and that sort of thing. I think that will continue to be important as we think about families, our youth, but all of us, thinking about building a healthy community.
ME: You had mentioned the fact that lots of our children, or more of our children, are living in homes where their parents are burdened in terms of their housing costs. How does that affect children?
MR: Whether you are living in a house that you own, if you are looking to own a house, or if you are renting and those rental prices, your monthly rent, is going up, you are then faced with choices of where you make sacrifices. My hunch would be that, most families, having a roof over their head is going to be number one.
Number two might be the food that you put on your table. Then, you might be moving down the list to making sure you are getting the healthcare that you need, et cetera. When those housing costs are so high that you are now having to make those hard decisions, that's tough on a family, and it increases the stress of parents. Children feel that stress. It also directly impacts the other things that a child and a family need to survive. So, even thinking about transportation and your gas and all of those start to build. It's great to continue renting, but if you're also seeing those rental prices increasing, it's a lose-lose situation.
So what kinds of solutions are out there that we as cities, and towns, and counties can also perhaps look to to try to find some of these solutions that address the issue?
