Fort Worth children are more than a ZIP code

Mayor Betsy Price has been saying a ZIP code shouldn’t determine a child’s future, but sadly, it does when that ZIP code doesn’t have the right community resources for that child to succeed.

Price spoke at a briefing last week when a new report showed the disparity between ZIP codes and the repercussions that has on children.

The report, put together by the Center for Public Policy Priorities, says 26 percent of Fort Worth children lived in high-poverty areas in 2014, a jump of 9 percentage points in five years.

“Although the share of Fort Worth children living in high-poverty neighborhoods is still lower than cities like Dallas, Houston and Austin, the rates have increased faster in Fort Worth and Arlington than in other Texas cities,” the report says in big, bold type.

Trying to slow poverty is about the same as trying to wave down a train.

It’s not just hard, but almost impossible.

Almost.

Steps can be taken to start whittling away at community problems that perpetuate poverty.

The biggest thing that needs to happen is that Tarrant County needs to understand what is at stake.

Most of our future workforce for Fort Worth will be “children of color,” the report says. A third of these black or Hispanic children currently live in poverty in Tarrant County.

Our county’s economic future depends heavily on this population, but we are not giving them the framework to succeed.

According to the report, most high-poverty areas lack three things: food security, teacher stability and consistent healthcare access.

These are areas that can be fixed, and we have lawmakers and officials working on it.

Fort Worth School Superintendent Kent Scribner has an aggressive plan to overhaul the district and make sure all third-graders are reading proficiently by 2025.

The City Council has been working on ordinances to allow produce mobile food vendors access to the residential areas in “food deserts.”

Local nonprofit programs, like Catholic Charities, provide healthcare access to people in need.

Tarrant County must continue taking these steps and more to make sure a ZIP code won’t determine a child’s future anymore.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 7:52 PM with the headline "Fort Worth children are more than a ZIP code."