There are 62,000 children living in Marion County. Many are progressing normally to adulthood, but as the accompanying statistics indicate, there are 1000s who are not. They are plagued by a number of different situations and problems.
Status of our children
They are born to unmarried teenage mothers; they are not prepared to begin school; they never do well in school, failing to learn to read and dropping out before graduation. Many live in single parent homes where abuse is a factor. Later they become involved with drugs which leads to criminal behavior.
These at-risk children require our attention. The cycle must be broken, not only for their sake but for the good of society.
Additional funding is needed to enhance a broad range of children's services. Afterschool programs, parenting for new mothers, additional counseling services and more recreational opportunities, to name just a few possibilities, could all benefit from greater resources.
Graphs of Statistics
Some of the statistics we have converted to graphs in PDF format. Click this link to view them:
Graphs of Statistics.
