GIS and Research Assistance to Children’s Defense Fund
The mission of the Children’s Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind® and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF is involved in programs and policies such as Early Childhood Education, Benefit Outreach, Child Care Assistance, Help Me Grow and Healthy Start to provide young children, especially from poor families, and their parents the opportunity to gain quality education, child care, lead healthy lives and receive tax return assistance. CDF-Ohio collects data on all of these programs for all counties in Ohio.
In continuation of our assistance to CDF-Ohio, Kirwan Institute updated the study of indicators of child well-being with 2005 data. The previous set of maps is archived here. Following is the latest set of maps.
Map 1: Population Density – 2005
This map displays an estimate of the population in Ohio counties for July 1, 2005. Existing data series such as births, deaths, Federal tax returns, Medicare enrollment, and immigration, are used to update the decennial census base counts.
Counties with the highest population densities in the State are: Butler, Clark, Clermont, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Franklin, Green, Hamilton, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Medina, Montgomery, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Warren.
Map 2: Estimated Child Population
High child population, as percentage of total population, in counties is clustered in the western part of the State. Holmes County has the highest percentage of children in the State
Map 3: Child Poverty
This map displays the spatial distribution of children living below Federal Poverty Line (FPL). Southeastern counties of the Appalachian region have the highest percentage of children living in poverty. High percentage of children living in poverty is linked to high unemployment rates within these counties.
Map 4: Children Receiving Food Stamps
This map displays a spatial distribution of the percentage of children receiving food stamps. 16 counties have 25% or more children receiving food stamps and the economically distressed areas of Southeast counties contribute the highest percentages in the state.
Map 5: Unemployment Rate
The economically distressed areas of the Appalachian region contribute to high unemployment rates in this region’s counties. Thus, most of the Eastern and Southeastern counties of Ohio show higher rates of unemployment.
Map 6: Children in Public Health Care Programs
36 Counties have 45% or more children in public health care programs such as Healthy Start and Healthy Families. Counties in the Application region show the highest number of children covered by Public health care programs. Pike County has the highest percentage (74.9%) of children in these programs. Vinton County with 72.3% has the second highest percentage.
Map 7: Low Birth Weight
This map displays percentage of infants born with low birth weight (less than 5.5 lbs at birth). Most of the metropolitan counties and counties in Appalachian region have higher percentages of infants with low birth weights.
Map 8: Teen Birth Rate
26 counties have 20 or more births per 1000 adolescents ages 15-17 years. A larger number of counties with higher teen birth rates are located in southern Ohio.
Map 9: Foster care
The map displays a spatial distribution of children in substitute care each year and the rate per 1000 children. This includes children who were in care on January 1 of each year, along with children who entered care during that calendar year. This reflects children placed by public agencies only.
Central and Southwest Counties have the highest rate of children in foster care. 27 counties display a rate of more than 10 children in foster care.
Map 10: Child Abuse or Neglect
This map displays the spatial distribution of child abuse and neglect (rate per 1000 children) by county based on substantiated reports of such abuse or neglect. 16 counties have this rate greater than 14.5 cases per 1000 children and are distributed randomly throughout the state.
Map 11: Child Care Assistance
This map displays the spatial distribution of percentage of children in Child Care Assistance program. 26 counties have more than 3% of children in these programs. Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties, and counties in Appalachian region, display this high percentage.
Map 12: Forth Graders Proficient or Better in Math
Most counties in the Appalachian Region display fewer than 60% of forth graders with Math proficiency. The three major metropolitan counties – Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton – too have low percentages of fourth graders with Math proficiency.
Map 13: Forth Graders Proficient or Better in Reading
The same trend, as in Math proficiency, follows for the Appalachian Region for fourth graders with Reading proficiency. The State has 18 counties with fewer than 74% of forth graders with Reading proficiency. The three major metropolitan counties fare worse in Reading than in Math proficiency.
Map 14: Free and Reduced Lunch
This map displays the spatial distribution of students receiving free or reduced lunch. The Southeastern counties of Appalachian region have high percentages of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Most of the metropolitan counties also display high percentages of these students.
Map 15: Felonies
This map displays a spatial distribution of adjudicate adolescents (14-17 year olds) as a rate per 1000 adolescents. Clark, Defiance, Lorain, Marion, Perry and Shelby counties display higher adolescent adjudication rates.
Map 16: Graduation Rate
The map displays a spatial distribution of the percentage of students graduating high school. 62 of 88 counties have a graduation percentage greater than 90 percent. Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties have graduation rates of 88% or less. Franklin and Cuyahoga have the lowest rate (76.8%) in the State.
