Missouri Statistics – What do they tell us?

After I started working in the foster care system, I wanted to understand why what I was seeing and hearing was happening. So I started digging for answers. What I found out about the state that I was born in, raised in and lived most of my life in really hit me hard. There are a lot of statistics out there but these were the ones that really stuck out to me because these are the ones that really impact the children.

The rankings are based on the 50 states that make up the United States of America.

• Population 18^th – I was surprised to realize that Missouri is in the top half in population, I always thought we had fewer people then most of the states.

• Average Income  40^th  – there are only 10 states with lower average income, I know our cost of living is low so it may balance some of that out but the poverty rate negates that argument.

• Poverty rate: 13.2% (19th highest) – If the average income number got smaller this ranking would get bigger which would mean fewer people living in poverty.

• Healthcare 41^st  – there are only 9 states worse at providing healthcare for their citizens.

• Education 27^th – we are in the middle on providing quality education, this number has been getting trending upward though.

• Kids count 30^th  – this is an indication of overall child well being, pretty sad

• Human trafficking 7^th – This is a number we really do not want to be low, we are 18th in population but 7th in human trafficking, bad ratio, doesn’t make me feel good about the safety of our youth.

• Imprisonment rate: 687 adults per 100,000 (7th highest) – our current response to the crime is to lock someone up. We also have a lot of mandatory sentences, if convicted, removing the option for a judge to give a more lenient sentence if circumstances warranted it.

These statistics are not new, this didn’t just happen in the last couple of years. It is not because of a particular party or candidate. This situation has been growing for decades. It is because of policies we believe and thought were the best way to handle crime, the economy and where to spend our tax dollars.

The statistics tell me that what we are doing is not working!!! We are going the wrong direction.

Continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is INSANITY!!

So what do you do when you figure out you are doing it wrong? You evaluate and make a change right? Try something different?

Trying something different is what this election is about because what is being done is not working and working class Missourians are the ones paying the price.