Closing America’s Childhood Equity Gap

I grew up in a small, rural Ohio town, nestled within an Amish community. Despite a rough start, filled with abuse, food insecurity, and poverty, today I find myself incredibly blessed. Thanks to some caring adults, I overcame that tough start and went on to graduate at the top of my high school and college classes. After attending Berea College, I joined Save The Children, where I've been for the past 14 years, working on behalf of kids in impoverished communities across rural America. Many of them have been dealt a rough hand in life. Despite the odds they face, my team and I believe the zip codes they're born into shouldn't dictate their futures. That’s why, as Senior Director of Save the Children’s Rural Education programs, I'm fortunate to oversee a portfolio of education and food insecurity programs in over 200 communities.

Gaps in inequity related to food security and education existed in rural America well before the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic has widened the gaps considerably. Save the Children aims to solve the systemic problems perpetuating these gaps through service-delivery and advocacy at the state and federal levels. 

Our project ensures we take care of America’s most marginalized rural children by feeding and educating them during and after the pandemic.  

By raising awareness about the issues facing U.S. rural communities, we aim to help drive policy changes and increased investments to give these communities the resources to build back stronger while showcasing their strength and resilience in meeting their youngest citizens' needs. This project has the potential to be replicated globally, inspiring rural communities everywhere to care for the next generation and elevating humanity as a whole.

Rural American families were already disproportionally coping with multiple risk factors before the pandemic hit, such as chronic poverty, food insecurity, teenage pregnancy, unemployment, substance abuse and depression. As a result, they are disproportionally at risk of bearing the brunt of COVID-19's socio-economic impact.  

In America, child poverty rates are higher in rural areas – nearly 1 in 4 rural children grow up poor. These children count on school meals – breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner – to provide them with the essential nutrition they need to grow and succeed. A recent Brookings Institute study shows that because of COVID-19, child hunger is worse in the U.S. right now than it was during the Great Depression. Nearly 35% of U.S. households with children report they do not have enough food. Almost 90% of counties with high child food insecurity rates are rural. Our project helps us make food insecurity a permanent part of our program agenda while also filling early learning gaps that have been severely exacerbated by the pandemic.

We have established long-standing partnerships with hundreds of isolated, low-income, rural communities since we began working in the U.S. in 1932. With local partners, we create and implement programs and services to improve children's development, prepare them for school success, boost their early literacy and math skills, and help them achieve a productive future. We train and employ the local workforce, empowering neighbors to deliver results for each other.  

Our strong presence in some of America’s least-served, most remote communities, coupled with our history of emergency response, meant that we lost no time mobilizing when the pandemic shut down the country.   

Literally overnight, my staff and I pivoted from our traditional education programs, adapting them to address the crisis and launching new initiatives based on the challenges our partner schools and communities faced. 

Our frontline staff reach marginalized children by transporting learning materials, educational resources and other items directly to their homes. Providing supplemental food to children who depend on school meal programs is a pillar of our response. We also deliver meals to families who have no reliable transportation to get school “grab-and-go” meals. 

Wide-scale learning loss could be among the most significant – and longest-lasting – impacts the coronavirus has on America’s children. Missing out on early learning now can have a devastating effect on a child’s growth. Low-income children typically lose two to three months of reading progress each summer, while children without access to preschool often enter kindergarten 18 months behind. School closures widen these gaps further.

Imagine arriving at school at age 5, knowing you’re already at a significant disadvantage, which will impact you for the rest of your life. This is the unacceptable reality for many poor, rural American children. A national leader in early childhood education, we adapted our programs to ensure the learning process continues at home through learning kits and other educational materials. Our early childhood coordinators are in touch with 96% of our Early Steps program families, replacing in-person visits with calls to check on their progress with lesson materials and other needs and well-being.

Without nutritious meals, children cannot concentrate on their education, and around 30 million children rely on school meals. Since March, we’ve helped distribute over 1.8 million meals and 2.6 million books, learning materials and hygiene items to rural American families.

The pandemic has uncovered inequities around the country. Everyone is vulnerable to the public health threats posed by the virus, but rural communities facing extreme poverty could be disproportionately impacted. We mobilized quickly to meet immediate learning and food needs. Three months in, we have served more than 180,000 children in 200 rural communities across ten states. Additionally, we are helping communities build back stronger by filling early learning and food insecurity gaps that have been exacerbated by the crisis. We also provide grants to partner schools to support feeding programs while helping our partner communities secure future funding.

Before the coronavirus hit the United States, my team and I worked to reach children in the country's most rural communities with limited resources. As schools, children care centers and businesses began to close, I knew the children in our rural communities were at risk of losing the most. They were already up against the odds, and those odds were in danger of getting worse.

Children in rural communities do not typically have the same educational support that children in more urban, affluent areas do. Rural communities do not have as many after-school and summer educational opportunities, so their children are already disadvantaged. Moving to an online learning platform to finish out the remainder of the school year was also very concerning. Internet access remains a luxury in rural America – it’s not something we have in every home. Even if we did solve the internet access issue, ensuring that each child has a device to access online learning is a whole other issue. I want to do all I can to level the playing field and give children in rural communities the opportunity to come out of the pandemic stronger than ever.

The early years of my childhood were filled with being abused, food insecurity, unstable housing, poverty and more drama than any child should have to face. Sadly, many do. I didn’t have the benefit of early childhood programs. In fact, my first experience with school wasn’t even in kindergarten. It was walking into a first-grade classroom on an early January morning as everyone returned from Christmas break. I know firsthand what it's like to start off far behind my peers, like many impoverished kids do. If it weren’t for a few caring adults who took an interest in me over the years, I don’t know where I would be today. They took me from behind to ahead, ultimately empowering me to graduate at the top of my high school and college classes. I am passionate about this work because so many kids growing up in impoverished rural communities are facing a start in life similar to mine. The work Save the Children does gives people a way to be those “caring adults” in children’s lives like I had, equipping them with the resources they need to make a difference.

Both my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in education. I have been working for the past 14 years in diverse rural communities across the U.S. During this time, I have met and negotiated with countless legislators, Department of Education officials, governors, donors, partner organizations and other dignitaries. All of these interactions created an important foundation, but what sets me apart is my past.

I was the kid that our programs serve. I know what it’s like to go to bed night after night hungry. I know what it’s like seeing the adults in your life worry about how they will pay the bills or if we will get to stay in our home. I also know what it’s like to be behind. Having not started any formal education until halfway through first grade, I was far behind my peers. 

  However, I also know that our programs and the power of early childhood education can make a difference! When I have the privilege of going on a home visit and seeing the sense of hope in a child’s eyes that our home visitor is bringing, or I sit down and chat with a child in our after-school programs about their hopes and dreams for the future, I see the difference our work makes.

I knew we couldn’t continue our rural programs the way we’d always run them when the pandemic hit, so my team and I engaged with our communities and adapted our programs to meet their immediate and long-term needs.

I remember going on a school site visit very early one Monday morning before the pandemic. When the buses came to a stop, all the children sprinted toward the cafeteria. I thought, “There must be something really exciting in there!” Then it dawned on me – they were running to get school breakfast. The last meal most of them had was probably on Friday during the school’s afternoon snack. They had waited for the entire weekend to eat a substantial meal again.

I knew these kids would suffer the most because of the quarantine, so I worked with our local and national partners to begin delivering food to children along the school bus routes. We don’t generally address food security in our U.S. communities, which is why I was particularly amazed by how my staff pivoted quickly and worked tirelessly to deliver provisions to families while also bringing children educational materials they need to keep learning.

On a typical day in February 2020, approximately 85,000 children benefited from the work Save the Children was doing in the communities we serve. As March arrived and schools shut down, it was clear children would be at risk. They would be at risk of falling further behind academically and at risk of going hungry, no longer able to access the daily breakfast, lunch and evening meals they often received at school.

Despite all of the complexities and safety concerns that come with a global pandemic, including a remote staff, reduced funding sources and increased stress levels as many staff were juggling childcare and educating their kids at home, our team continuously rallied for the benefit of the kids we serve. Along with our community partners, we more than doubled our reach number in the last three months – we now serve over 180,000 kids. Through long hours and creative thinking, we’ve distributed over 2.6 million items, including books, learning resources, hygiene items and PPE to families in need.  We’ve also helped distribute more than 1.8 million meals to kids in need. I am proud to marshal the resources and logistics to make this incredible growth happen.

Save the Children is one of the only nonprofit organizations supporting rural America and advocating on behalf of rural children. Our community-led efforts exist in areas where there are few other local providers, and we are helping children, families and communities most impacted by this crisis build back stronger.

We are innovating on many levels. Armed with our global expertise and grounded in our deep presence in the U.S., we are piloting cash transfers to reduce food insecurity and support general household needs in this unprecedented time. Our goal is to help families immediately and flexibly and monitor our success with the goal of potentially incorporating cash transfers into our long-term programming.

This uncertain time will take a toll on children’s mental health. We are incorporating social-emotional support initiatives developed in our emergency relief work into our learning lessons and outreach. Last year we began integrating our social-emotional learning programs, designed and tested after Hurricane Katrina and used in many emergencies since, into our regular school programs. We will expand the integration of these services to support the emotional resiliency of both children and their caregivers.

Remote learning needs have shone a spotlight on the digital divide plaguing rural communities. Through technology grants, we will help school districts enhance their distance learning efforts with devices, broadband access points and learning materials for those kids who need it the most.

Our logic model maps out Save the Children’s strategy for ensuring children are ready to enter kindergarten and achieve reading and math proficiency by third grade, even during the pandemic. Children cannot learn if they do not have enough to eat or are not getting their other basic needs met, which is a serious concern in marginalized rural communities at this time. Many of the schools with which we partner qualify to feed 100% of their children free meals. The spring phase of this project focused on getting resources to families to support nutrition and learning. Over the summer and into the fall, we will be deepening our support systems to prevent learning loss and keep feeding programs running.

Activities/Outputs: Our frontline staff is (1) supporting local food programs and helping deliver nutritious food, high-quality learning packets, games and sports equipment to ensure vulnerable families without transportation access and internet access receive them; (2) supporting community learning initiatives; (3) providing referrals and connecting families to resources; (4) checking in weekly with children and caregivers regarding their progress with at-home lesson plans, and leading activities online and offline; (5) generating excitement around incentives for learning and reading challenges; (6) supporting local kindergarten readiness and transition efforts (e.g., remote registration, virtual meet-the-teacher sessions); and (7) participating in social-emotional support virtual training and workshops.

Outcomes: Children will (1) have their nutritional needs met and won’t go hungry; (2) develop academic skills at the rate they would have had quarantines not existed; (3) have strengthened capacity to cope with emotions, to understand themselves and to better self-regulate; and (4) have reduced anxiety about starting kindergarten. 

Impact: Children in low-income, rural communities are socially, emotionally and cognitively ready to enter kindergarten and achieve proficiency in math and reading by third grade.

In 2019, we served approximately 85,000 children. In 2020, we anticipate directly and meaningfully impacting 180,000 children, and in five years, we expect to reach 350,000 children on an annual basis.

By 2021, my goal is to ensure that all of the children in the rural communities where we work are socially, emotionally and cognitively prepared to enter kindergarten ready to learn and achieve at least basic math and reading proficiency by the end of third grade. Additionally, my team and I will enhance our program offerings to address critical needs for children that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, we will make food insecurity in rural communities a permanent fixture of our program strategy. We will also nimbly and creatively respond to local needs by testing innovative pilots like cash transfers and community cash management.

By 2025, we will have scaled up the work mentioned above to ideally reach 350,000 children and their families on an annual basis in rural America. We will also create policy change to support children in rural America, increase the amount of funding and support to rural communities, and increase awareness of barriers rural children face.

The biggest challenges facing our efforts in rural communities are limited policies and resources aimed at closing childhood equity gaps. Save the Children recently created the first-ever ranking of U.S. counties where children are most and least prioritized and protected. Researchers examined data from more than 2,600 counties and county-equivalents in all 50 states. The rankings are based on four factors that cut childhood short: child hunger, poor education, teenage pregnancy, and early death due to ill health, accident, murder or suicide. This report uncovers an unacceptable reality in America, where one child can be exponentially more likely than another to succeed in life based solely on the county where he or she grew up – and the most disadvantaged U.S. counties are nearly all rural and poor. 

The report also shows that political will and investments in children pay off. Closing equity gaps and making all U.S. counties great places to raise kids would mean that millions of children would be given the childhoods they need to set them up for successful futures. If each county protected and provided for its children as well as the highest-ranked county in its state, 3.5 million fewer children would struggle with hunger, 130,000 fewer teens would give birth and 15,000 fewer children would die in America each year.

We will overcome these barriers through increased funding, policy changes and more robust community partnerships. In collaboration with our advocacy arm, Save the Children Action Network (SCAN), we will continue to advocate for local, state and federal policies that increase and sustain access to high-quality early childhood education.

Improving educational outcomes for low-income children – and doing so at scale – involves the cooperation and collaboration of community organizations that provide non-academic, wrap-around services. Our new collective impact approach brings together cross-sectoral stakeholders – health professionals and other community members from local churches and businesses – to share data, align resources and shape strategies for driving real, lasting change for rural children and families. It also ensures that children in low-income, rural communities are socially, emotionally and cognitively ready to enter kindergarten and achieve proficiency in math and reading by third grade.

Before COVID-19, we launched this approach in Perry County and Whitley County in Kentucky, and in Cocke County, Tennessee. We are expanding to Yakima Valley in Washington and would like to expand into new communities as funding becomes available.

• Share Our Strength – campaign partner
• School Districts – implementing program partners
• Food Insecurity/Rural Education working groups
• Strive Together – policy and programming partner
• Partners for Education – policy and programming partner
• First Book – resources for communities 
• LakeShore – resources for communities

Save the Children works in rural communities and serves the most marginalized children. Our business model is to leverage a mix of funding models, including connecting private contributors to our cause, collecting gift-in-kind donations from corporations, pursuing a variety of federal, state and local government funding, and advocating for increased investments in high-quality early childhood education across the U.S.

Save the Children’s path to financial sustainability is to remain relevant by serving the most marginalized children and addressing gaps in underserved communities. We are able to mobilize private and public donors using multi-year commitments and annual recurring gifts.

To date, we have raised over $10 million against our $20 million goal. Our top contributors include the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, AbbVie and Baxter International.

With my team, I seek to raise $20 million in private contributions and $10 million in gift-in-kind donations over the next 18 months.

The anticipated expenses of the work I am leading over the next 18 months are $20 million.

Others fly over them, drive through them or truck past them. Rural communities face many of the same challenges as urban ones, but they don’t receive as much attention. The Elevate Prize can help us increase visibility around the challenges facing America’s rural communities and what they need to help their youngest and most vulnerable residents – children – grow stronger.

Through our partnerships, we aim to elevate the visibility of the unprecedented challenges facing rural American families and how that impacts children, better illustrate the impact of our work and co-create new program strategies to reach as many children as possible.

We have a robust group of partners that serve in multiple capacities, including thought partnership, content expertise, implementation and funding. We hope to continue to build and strengthen our existing partnerships while developing and expanding relationships with new partners.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss potential partnership opportunities with any entities looking to improve the lives of all children in rural America.