2020 Mississippi KIDS COUNT Factbook

Because the amount of dollars Mississippi will receive for federal programs serving so many children and families in the state are based on census counts, we have devoted the 2020 MS KIDS COUNT Factbook entirely to the census.

In doing so, we explore the demographic make-up of our child population, why young children are at risk of being undercounted, what’s at stake for our state if we do not count all our children, and what we as residents of Mississippi can do to ensure all children and their families are counted.

We also look at the current status of children’s health, education, family and community life, and economic well-being in the state and how each of these areas could be impacted by census counts.

In the coming months, the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi will use the KIDS COUNT data to create a blueprint for child well-being in Mississippi that articulates what Mississippi can do to address important children’s issues.

This will be based on input from a wide array of stakeholders across the state of Mississippi and research findings. Once established this
will be used to determine short and longterm progress being made, similar to the ways that Mississippi KIDS COUNT monitors the well-being of Mississippi’s children, and also include specific strategies (policies,
programs that can be implemented on a local and state-level) to bolster positive outcomes.