By Alex Jobin

In its latest issue brief, “Children of Alabama in 2025,” the University of Alabama’s Education Policy Center details disparities in health, family, and education outcomes between children in Alabama’s Black Belt and those in the rest of the state.

“This brief seeks to examine disparities in wellbeing outcomes between children who live in Alabama’s Black Belt and children who live outside of the region,” the report’s authors write. “Through the analysis of state and federal data on healthcare, family structure, and education, this report spotlights wellbeing barriers facing children in the Black Belt.”

The brief begins by outlining the stark contrast between infant mortality rates inside and outside the Black Belt region.

In 2024, Alabama had an average infant mortality rate of 7.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, higher than the U.S. average of 5.5. However, that rate is distributed unevenly across the state, with the historically underprivileged Black Belt counties recording a much higher average infant mortality rate of 9.1, compared with 6.5 in non-Black Belt counties.

According to the authors, this disparity can be attributed to a lack of access to pregnancy-related health care in the Black Belt. As of September 2025, only three of 24 Black Belt counties—Montgomery, Dallas and Escambia—had hospitals that provided obstetrical services, compared with 23 of 43 non-Black Belt counties.

This reality is exacerbated by Alabama’s lack of Medicaid expansion, which has left many Alabamians without adequate health insurance and has contributed to the endangerment and closure of rural hospitals across the state.

Children in the Black Belt also face poorer outcomes with regard to family structure, with the report finding that 35 percent of children in the Black Belt live in a single-parent household, compared with 22.7 percent of children in non-Black Belt counties. The authors stress that children raised in single-parent households often face additional barriers to well-being, education, and financial resources.

“Studies show that children who grow up with married parents tend to have better health and education outcomes than children who grow up with separated or single parents, including better physical health, psychological well-being, and educational attainment,” the authors write. “In the United States and in Alabama, marriage status reflects a class divide; 6 percent of married couple families in Alabama live in poverty, while 35 percent of single parent families in Alabama live in poverty.”

“Not only do single parents have to financially provide for their families on one income stream, but single parents who work are more likely to have jobs with low earning potential and job security,” they add. “Furthermore, single parents are more likely to face mental health issues—such as high stress and depression—and limited social support for raising children.”

These trends continue when considering child care, as Black Belt families’ access to pre-kindergarten programs is limited by factors such as affordability and transportation.

Faced with disproportionate levels of poverty, parents in the Black Belt may have less money to spend on child care and may instead be forced to stay home to care for their children. Black Belt families also have fewer options for high-quality child care services, with only 14 “Star 5” licensed child care providers—the highest rating under the Alabama Quality STARS program—in the Black Belt, compared with 93 outside the Black Belt. Additionally, some Black Belt counties, such as Lowndes, have no licensed child care centers at all.

Together, these factors result in a higher vacancy rate at licensed child care centers in the Black Belt, 26.5 percent, than elsewhere in the state, 20.7 percent.

K-12 education outcomes in the Black Belt also lag behind the rest of Alabama.

On the 2024-2025 state report card released by the Alabama Department of Education, Black Belt school systems had an average score of 78, a C, while non-Black Belt schools had an average score of 87, a B. Black Belt schools underperformed in every category, including academic achievement and growth, graduation rate, progress in English-language proficiency, college and career readiness, and chronic absenteeism. Only one Black Belt county school system, Lamar, scored an A, compared with 13 non-Black Belt county school systems.

In the report, the authors attribute these disparate outcomes to a lack of adequate state-level funding for Black Belt schools.

“Across the nation, public schools are funded by a mix of local, state, and federal dollars, but for Alabama public schools the majority of their funding comes from the state,” they write. “For rural schools, state funding is critical to the quality of a school system. That is why it is worth noting that the state of Alabama spends over $1,400 less per rural student than the national average. This may partially explain the diminished education outcomes for the Black Belt, a largely rural region.”

The authors conclude the report with a series of policy recommendations they believe could improve childhood well-being in the Black Belt, closing the gap between the region’s outcomes and those of the rest of the state.

First, the authors call for the expansion of the Well Woman Program run by the Alabama Department of Public Health, which offers services to improve health outcomes for women ages 15 to 55 in the state.

“Addressing the disparities in infant mortality rates requires holistic investments in expanding the accessibility of institutions, resources, and services aimed at caring for pregnant women and their babies,” the authors write. “This could include the expansion of the Well Woman Program, which offers free or reduced-cost services to promote family planning, health screenings, risk reduction counseling, nutrition classes, and physical activity resources. Well Woman is currently only provided in 9 out of the 24 Black Belt counties.”

To improve outcomes for children raised in single-parent households, the authors also urge lawmakers to increase support for a variety of community-based initiatives.

“Reducing the potential harm to wellbeing for children living in single-parent households requires the expansion of community-level support for single parents,” they write. “This includes key resources such as food pantries, free clinics, legal aid, childcare referrals, and transportation aid.”

Lastly, the authors call for an expansion of Alabama’s First-Class Pre-K program to improve child care access and early childhood education outcomes in the Black Belt.

“Alabama’s First-Class Pre-K program offers 4-year-olds access to pre-kindergarten programs in their communities,” the authors write. “The program has been recognized for its high quality in the State of Preschool Report for 19 consecutive years. Research has shown how the program closes achievement gaps between students in poverty and those not in poverty, as well as minority and non-minority students.”

“Though the access to First-Class Pre-K has tripled in the past 10 years, it is critical to continue to invest in the program to increase accessibility,” they add.

Until policymakers make these investments, the authors argue that children in Alabama’s Black Belt will continue to face disparities in well-being that put them at a distinct disadvantage compared with children raised elsewhere in the state.