Public News Service

7/25/16

RICHMOND, Va. – Given how little attention it’s getting from candidates, children in poverty is a hidden crisis, say advocates.

According to the most recent complete numbers from Kids Count, more children in Virginia and across the nation are growing up in poverty now than during the Great Recession.

Bruce Lesley, president of the children’s advocacy group First Focus, says in the first 10 Democratic and Republican presidential debates, only one question out of 500 was specific to the lives children in this country now live.

“Someone will say I care about terrorism and we need to do it for our children,” he relates. “That may be true but there are huge issues facing our children directly. So where’s the big debate?”

About 20 percent of …

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