Education beats poverty in Trenton and all over New Jersey [L.A. PARKER COLUMN]

According to 2024 data, these New Jersey municipalities show the highest poverty rates.

• Atlantic City 35.2%
• Camden: 33.6%
• Lakewood 32.6
• Bridgeton 31.7
• Trenton: 27.7%
• Newark: 25.4%
• Passaic: 25.3%
• Paterson: 24.4%

Note that these statistics likely register as higher in cities inhabited significantly by undocumented residents where attaining accurate information delivers challenges.

While people attempt to turn poverty into a study of rocket science, clarity arrives with this question — What do the aforementioned cities have in common?

If you answered underperforming public education systems, low graduation rates, and substandard literacy statistics, then walk and think with me. As an organization formed by Dave “Poppy” Sanderson, longtime athletic trainer at Trenton Central High School maintains, Education Outweighs Them All (EOTA). In this case, all means sports.

Here, education includes potentially learning a trade where job opportunities await plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, painters, builders, etc. Of course, a college education represents almost certainty that most diploma earners will never engage poverty.

No city draped in poverty will ever experience sustained revitalization without a successful education system. Lifting Trenton from this stagnant  27.7 percent poverty rate abyss demands a long-term plan and commitment.

According to the New Jersey Department of Education, six percent of Trenton third-graders read at grade level. That means out of the 1,176 Trenton students who took the state standardized third grade reading test last spring, only 70 reached proficiency; Camden showed 11-percent while Newark public school students delivered 23.5 percent.

Without positive education intervention, poverty can produce generational conditions, cycles of issues that confine individuals to daily struggles that involve food insecurity, shelter, emotional challenges, and a litany of other struggles.

A distinct connection exists between higher, hopefully quality education, and lower poverty rates.The poverty rate for individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher was 4% in 2023, compared to 25.1% for those with no high school diploma. And, if poverty puts people in line at Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK), queued at Catholic Charities for help, in need of a bed at the Rescue Mission of Trenton, or on the doorstep of Salvation Army, understand that a solid education can gain independence from all of the aforementioned non-profits.

As intelligence improves, the need for assistance decreases and job opportunities expand. It’s that simple although convincing people to invest fully in education remains a challenge.

Reading proficiently by third grade opens doors to amazing learning. It’s much more than sounding out words. Changing Trenton demands an alteration and an understanding of our obligation to provide young children with every resource for education success.

Where to start? Begin at the beginning with an immediate pre-K to third grade reading/literacy initiative because research shows that literacy proficiently during those years builds a solid foundation for learning.

L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at [email protected].