News

NEW YORK, NY May 21, 2008 —Kids in the city are doing better than in years past but there are still big disparities between communities.

According to a report by the citizens committee for children student achievement is improving, more kids are in child care and have health insurance. Much of the data comes from 2006 government figures.

Jennifer March-Joly is the group's executive director and says significant progress has been made:

MARCH-JOLY: That being said, African American, Latino children still lag far behind their white and Asian peers in New York City and in particular communities north and central Brooklyn and the south Brooklyn there really are enormous hurdles to child well being that we need to begin to address.

REPORTER: According to the report, black and Latino kids fare much worse when it comes to drop out rates and poverty rates.

One bright spot for Latinos is a dramatic improvement in infant mortality. However, the study also showed 56% of all pregnant teens are Latinas.