Children surrounded by poverty face narrowed futures and, often, shortened lives. In southwestern Pennsylvania's fragmented patchwork of cities, boroughs and townships, they're also likely to live in places without the resources to provide safety, recreation and a healthy environment.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, throughout 2019, explored the data tying childhood deprivation to a host of other problems, and delved into communities in which half of the kids live in poverty. Reporters and photographers visited with families doing their best in difficult surroundings, explored the causes and effects, and searched for solutions.

The Economic Hardship Reporting Project supported Stacy Innerst's illustration. The USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism supported the data work. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting supported international travel.

Top vs Bottom

 

If your family lives in White Oak or Churchill, you can pretty much guarantee that the neighbor kids aren't living in poverty, according to estimates the Census Bureau released in late 2017. In seven Allegheny County municipalities, though, you can bet they are. See how your community compares to North Braddock, where around three in five children live in poverty.

Mapping inequality

 

Communities with high child poverty tend to have lower home ownership rates and higher turnover than their more affluent neighbors. In Wilmerding, for example, just three in 10 residents own their homes, and three in 10 lived somewhere else the year before, according to the Census Bureau. That means many kids are subjected to a sense of neighborhood instability at best, and personal dislocation at worst.

Go in-depth with our full data in Growing up Through the Cracks.

• Percentage of homes occupied by the owner
• Percentage of residents living at the same address as the year prior

Stories in this series

 

Rankin: Fighting 'the depressed mindset'

In a town kept down by county decisions and indecision, even the most determined families find it hard to rise above stagnation, deprivation, and violence.

Growing up Through the Cracks

When half the kids are in poverty, our fractured towns can offer no future.

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Where fighting poverty is a priority

The children at the center of North Braddock's storm

Fragmented local government a challenge in addressing pockets of high child poverty in Allegheny County

Report offers plan to cut child poverty in U.S. in half in 10 years

A novel policing arrangement brings county cops up close with kids in poverty

Pa.'s fix for distressed communities hasn't worked for Duquesne's families

Saltlick: “They don’t know they’re poor.”

Bid to shift state funding threatens Allegheny County family support centers

Pa. officials reverse course on local family support center funding

What it’s like to work in child care, raise your kids and just get by in the Mon Valley

Study: An increasing number of Pa. kids living in high-poverty areas

North Braddock: Treasures Amid Ruins

Grown-up solutions to combat child poverty

A wee spark of hope

In Leechburg, an elementary school stands against a tide of poverty

'The issue of our time'