Rhode Island's children are diverse in racial and ethnic background. According to the 2010 Census, 72% of Rhode Island children under age 18 were White, 8% were Black, 3% were Asian, 1% were Native American, 9% of children were identified as “Some other race,” and 7% as “Two or more races.” In 2010, 21% of children living in Rhode Island were Hispanic (Hispanic children can be of any race). Young children in Rhode Island are more likely to be identified as People of Color than any other age group. In 2019 in Rhode Island, 46% of children under age five were People of Color, compared with 35% of adults ages 25 to 44 and 12% of people age 65 or over.
Black and Hispanic children are more likely than White and Asian children to live in neighborhoods that lack the resources needed for them to grow up healthy and successful. At the time of the 2010 Census, nearly three-quarters (67%) of Rhode Island’s minority children lived in one of the four core cities (those cities with the highest percentage of children living in poverty). In 2010, more than three-quarters of the children in Providence (84%) and Central Falls (87%) were of minority racial and ethnic backgrounds. Children living in areas of concentrated poverty, who are more likely to be Black or Hispanic, face challenges above and beyond the burdens of individual poverty.