KIDS Count
Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota (CDF-MN) welcomes recent news from the 2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book that Minnesota ranks as the fifth-best state in the nation for child well-being. However, while Minnesota ranks high in health and economic well-being of children and young people, the state continues to lose ground in educational outcomes.
Child Health
Minnesota ranked third among states for overall child well-being, improving in health and education rankings but falling in the Family and Community domain from 2020, according to the latest edition of the national 2021 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Child Poverty
Saint Paul, Minn. – The Census Bureau has released its annual poverty data indicating that in 2019, 10.5 million American children lived in poverty, among them 143,000 Minnesota children (11.2 percent), making them the poorest age group. While these estimates do not adequately capture the present-day realities of Americans due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, they do reveal the vast racial inequities of income and wealth in Minnesota that have only become more pronounced during this public health crisis.
Child Poverty
Five Minnesota high school seniors, who have overcome tremendous adversity in their young lives and yet have managed to achieve academic excellence and aspire to attend college, will be recognized with Beat the Odds® Scholarships at the 29th Annual Beat the Odds Award Celebration, sponsored by Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota. This year’s event will be a virtual celebration on Thursday, May 13, starting at 6:30 p.m. The five honorees are Sarah Ali, Minneapolis South High School; Daidyena Frost, Brooklyn Center High School; Cindy Candela Gonzaga, St. Paul Central High School; Tolchi Nwankpa, Tartan Senior High School; and Quentin Wolf, Minneapolis South High School. Each will each receive a $5,000 scholarship, a laptop computer and other support to help them achieve their college dreams.
Child Welfare