Patrick Lavery | NJ1015
The fourth annual State of Babies Yearbook, released Tuesday by the Washington, D.C.-based organization Zero To Three, places New Jersey in the top 12 states in the nation for infants and toddlers, but also offers evidence the Garden State should continue to make improvements for its youngest residents.
The rankings in the study are classified by the letters G-R-O-W: getting started, reaching forward, improving outcomes, or working effectively. In two categories, for having strong families and positive early learning experiences, New Jersey was rated "working effectively," the top mark.
It's the best showing the state has yet had in the relatively short history of the Zero To Three report, according to Cecilia Zalkind, president and CEO of Advocates for Children of New Jersey.
That does not mean, she said, that there isn't still work to be done.
Zalkind reports a "significant" equity issue remains in the Garden State, with about a third (32%) of Black and Hispanic babies being raised in poverty, compared to only 6% of whites.
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