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TOM CRANN: About 14% of the state's children are living in poverty, according to US census data released today. That level seems stubbornly stuck. It's only slightly lower than last year, but it's still higher than it was before the recession. It means over 176,000 children in the state are living below the poverty line. For more on this, we're joined by Peggy Flanagan. She's executive director of Children's Defense Fund Minnesota. Thanks for coming in.

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Thanks. I'm happy to be here.

TOM CRANN: So first, what was your reaction when you saw this number today, very little changed from a year ago?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Right. So whenever we see a decrease in poverty, that's a good thing. But when we go from 14.6% to 14%, that does seem stuck and stagnant for a lot of our children. So it was a little frustrating.

TOM CRANN: Give us a definition here. How do we define children living in poverty?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: So the way that it's defined by the federal poverty guidelines is, a family of four making $23,000 or less per year. When Children's Defense Fund calculates what a family of four needs to get by, it's about $52,000 a year. So even as we look at the poverty numbers, we know--

TOM CRANN: The official numbers.

PEGGY FLANAGAN: --the official numbers, we know that there's probably a lot more children and families who are low income, who are struggling.

TOM CRANN: How is Minnesota doing compared to other states?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: So we are ranked seventh in the nation, which is--

TOM CRANN: Seventh best?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Seventh best, which is good. And we do really well here in Minnesota for white children. We're ranked fifth in the nation. But the places where we have real issues is still in the inequities between children of color and white children in the state.

TOM CRANN: So there is a racial disparity or a gap here?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Absolutely. Right now, we are ranked 23rd nationwide for African-American children. And of African-American children, 40.5% of African-American children are in poverty. For American Indian children, 41% are in poverty, and we're ranked 34th nationwide. So these are incredible disparities.

TOM CRANN: What specific policies are being worked on here to reduce this number? And as you see it, what would effectively do it?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: So we don't think there's a magic bullet to end child poverty. But what we did last year-- or last session is raise the minimum wage to 950. And now that's indexed to inflation. A third of families-- of folks who are low-wage workers are parents. So we think we're hopeful that will begin to make a difference.

But additionally, increasing the funding for the basic sliding fee childcare assistance program is really key. We've got 6,000 families who are on a waiting list right now, waiting to get childcare. And these are families who want to work but simply can't access childcare. And that means that they don't have an opportunity to have sustainable employment either.

TOM CRANN: And that is the effect there? If more families have childcare paid for or subsidized in some way, then they are able to work, and hence the household income goes up?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Absolutely.

TOM CRANN: There's a direct correlation?

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Yes. And we think it's good for families, but it's also good for the state. And it's good for the economy when employers have more workers that they can depend on and are reliable.

TOM CRANN: Peggy Flanagan is executive director of the Children's Defense Fund Minnesota. Thanks for coming in and for your reaction to new numbers today from the US census that show 14% of Minnesota's children are living in poverty. That's only down slightly from last year.

PEGGY FLANAGAN: Thank you so much for having me.