Community leaders meet to discuss Madison County's last-place ranking in child wellbeing
Following the last-place ranking of Madison County in the Tennessee State of the Child report, community leaders and elected officials met Friday to discuss how to address the multi-faceted issue of child wellbeing in the county.
The report, a yearly calculation of child wellbeing in each county, ranked Madison County overall as 95th out of 95 counties in the state for child wellbeing, as well as 94th in family and community, 93rd in economic well-being, 92nd in education and 64th in health.
One of Madison County's best statistics in the report included a low rate of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect, at 4.4% compared to the state's 4.5%. The county also scored well with 4.5% of children without health insurance, ranking 18th statewide.
However, Madison County has the highest school suspension rate in the state at 9.3%, and it's in the bottom five when it comes to third- through eighth-grade students rated “proficient” on TNReady math and reading tests as well as high school graduation rates.
More: Madison County ranks worst in state child wellbeing as area loses out on major grant funding
Leaders from the United Way of West Tennessee, the City of Jackson, Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, and many more met at Union University to have roundtable discussions on what each group could uniquely bring to the table.
"We invited the whole community,” said Olivia Abernathy, director of early education initiatives at United Way of West Tennessee, and one of the event organizers. “We invited elected leaders, nonprofit leaders, church leaders, everyone, to come together to talk about the latest data from the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.”
Abernathy explained that while the ranking was obviously dismal, it should not be disheartening.
“We thought it was important to capitalize this moment as not something to despair about, but rather to be a stirring place for growth and movement,” she said. “So we brought everyone together to discuss issues and contribute to solutions.”
Abernathy herself has children in the county, which she credited part of her passion for the project too.
“I have children in Madison County!” she said. “So not only am I passionate about my own children, but I feel like our children are our most important aspect of the community, because they’re the future. We are stewarded to take care of them. We have to get that right. We have to support the next generation so our community is well.”
The six-hour conference spanned a number of niche issues and speakers, from Richard Kennedy of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth to Matthew Marshall from United Way of West Tennessee.
“The issues we’re facing are not simple,” Abernathy said. “Which means there are no simple answers to those problems. We did not get here overnight, and we did not get here in a vacuum. We are a part of a long history, and that’s why it’s imperative that the work ahead of us is intergenerational.”
Additional county rankings can be found here.
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This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Community leaders meet to discuss Madison County's last-place ranking in child wellbeing
