1. Advocates for Children of New Jersey Kids Count: Mercer County
September 26, 2017
Lawrenceville, NJ

2. Special Thanks to:

3. What is KIDS COUNT?
Kids Count is the only place that has comprehensive data related to children and families in one place
Objective use of data
Assess change over time with trend data; provide a baseline for future comparisons
Give you a “snapshot” of children and families
Easily accessible and meaningful

4. Where do we get our data? U.S. Census Bureau
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Centers for Disease Control
State Departments and Agencies
Department of Health
Department of Children and Families
Department of Human Services
Department of Education
Local Organizations/Agencies

5. Where can you find KIDS COUNT Data?
Browse the KIDS COUNT data center
datacenter.kidscount.org
Visit acnj.org
New Jersey
County Pocket Guide
Newark
Hard copies available.

6. Mercer County Demographics
New Jersey
Total Population
371,398
8,958,013
Child Population
80,760
1,998,865
% Child Population
22%
% Black or African American under 18
14%
% White under 18
38%
48%
% Hispanic under 18
24%
26%
% Asian under 18
13% 9%

7. This year’s rankings… 4 areas of child well- being, “domains”
Child/Family Economics
Child Health
Safety and Well-Being
Education
3 indicators contributing to each domain
Rankings compare counties to each other, not to itself over time
Important to also look at the performance of each county on each indicator over time and how it has changed.
A county could rank poorly, but the actual data on the indicator may have improved.
Need to look at the whole picture.

8. 2017 Mercer County Rankings
Domain
Rank
Child and Family Economics 6
Child Health 7
Safety and Well-Being 10
Education 19

10. Economic Well-Being Mercer County:
Median income households with children: $92,341
Some improvement-- decrease in the number of children living in poverty from 2011 to 2015
Fewer children living in families receiving TANF or SNAP from 2012 to 2016
NJ EITC: increase in average credit $ amount received
$573  $888

11. Mercer Maternal and Infant Health
Slight decrease in low- birthweights, but overall little change.
Fewer women receiving prenatal care in their first trimester.

12. Racial Disparities in Infant Health
Infant Mortality Rate,
Mercer NJ
White, non-Hispanic **
2.9
Black, non-Hispanic
15.1
9.7
Hispanic, of any race
5.5
4.4
Asian, non-Hispanic
2.8
% Low Birthweights,
Mercer NJ
White, non-Hispanic
7.1%
7.0%
Black, non-Hispanic
13.5%
12.4%
Hispanic, of any race
7.4%
Asian, non-Hispanic
8.1%
8.9%
**The value has been suppressed because it does not meet standards of reliability or precision.

13. Child Health
13% increase in the number of children receiving NJ Family Care
Fewer than 3% of children living without health insurance in Mercer—better than state rate of 3.7%.
Lower percentage of children tested for lead from to 2015.
2015 children with BLLs above 5 µg/dL: 4.0%

14. Child Welfare
Decrease in the number of Mercer children reported for abuse/neglect from 2011 to 2015.
Increase in the % of children with substantiated/established findings of abuse/neglect.
8.8%  9.7%
More children in foster care
Mercer out-of-home placements increased by 26% from to 2015, compared to a 9% decrease for the state.

15. Early Education
Slight decrease in Mercer County enrollment in public preschool and public kindergarten from school year to school year.
Statewide only 37% of young children not enrolled in school, compared to 53% of young children nationwide.

16. Mercer County Child Care
# of licensed child care centers: 202
Capacity of 19,566
% of Children 0-5 with all parents in labor force: 63%

17. School-Age Children
89% of Mercer County students graduate from HS in 4 years.
NJ: 90%
12% of Mercer County K-12 students chronically absent
Compared to 10% of NJ students
3rd and 4th grade reading PARCC results for Mercer on par with state.
32% of F&RP eligible Mercer County students receiving breakfast, ranked 17th in state.
Trenton served 43% of its eligible students

18. Hedgepeth Williams MS—Trenton, NJ

19. Mercer Teens 6% of Mercer teens not working or not enrolled in school.
Sometimes called idle or disconnected youth
Teen births figures continue to decline
4.7% of births in Mercer to females ages in 2015
Down from 6.5% in 2011.

20. Juvenile Justice
Juvenile arrests in Mercer down by 55 percent from to 2015.
Statewide juvenile arrests down by 37 percent during same time period.
Mercer: fewer than 15 juvenile commitments in 2015
Statewide 128 commitments
Admissions to juvenile detention: 138
Decline from 2014: 178
Disparity in admissions by race for Mercer county:
84% to African-American youth
4% to white or Caucasian youth
7% to Hispanic youth

21. 2 Mercer Municipalities
Year
Hamilton
Trenton
Child Population
17,920
21,159
Median Income
(hh’s w/ children)
$94,102
$32,713
% Children below Poverty
12%
41%
% Children Uninsured 4% 5%
Infant Mortality Rate
5.8
11.1
Graduation Rate
2016
92%
67%
Chr. Absenteeism
11%
32%

22. Questions?