Caption: Families living in low-income neighborhoods face additional burdens including a scarcity of safe places for children to play. The clean playground pictured in the previous photo is not enough to induce play. On the other side of the same building, police with large weapons drawn prepare for a drug bust.
Low-income and minority children are suffering the consequences, with childhood obesity rates higher in these communities than among the general population. Kumanyika and Grier, writing in the
Future of Children journal issue on childhood obesity, note that there are various means of reaching low-income and minority communities to affect change. Existing policy levers include Medicaid, the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), food stamps, and the school breakfast and lunch programs.
