Poverty among children in West Virginia has increased since
1969, according to two advocacy groups. That ought to tell us
something about the billions of dollars spent in attempts to
lessen the problem: They haven't done much good. Fewer senior
citizens live in poverty today, according to the West Virginia
Center on Budget and Policy and the West Virginia Healthy Kids
and Families Coalition. The organizations issued a report
Tuesday noting the poverty rate among older Mountain State
residents is just 10 percent now, compared to 39.2 percent in
1969. According to the center, Social Security benefits can be
thanked for that gigantic improvement. While there is no Social
Security program for children, a variety of other government
programs - Aid to Families With Dependent Children and Medicaid,
to name two -have aimed to improve their lives. And it needs to
be noted the Appalachian Region was a target of the "War on
Poverty" launched during President Lyndon Johnson's
administration in the mid 1960s. Yet, accordi