Alarm Bells Ring as High Migration, Child Poverty, and Crime Threaten the Future of the U.S. Virgin Islands

“If there were ever a moment for us to stop and pivot, this is the moment.” That was the warning from Deanna James, president of the St. Croix Foundation, who recently apprised lawmakers of findings from the 2023 Kids Count Data Book.‌ “It feels like we are speeding toward our own demise as a society with lower birth rates, steady migration rates of families with young children, and exponentially high adolescent homicide rates,” Ms. James pointedly remarked. These factors, alongside poverty statistics and troubling data related to learning success percentages, were presented to the 35th Legislature as “real drivers” for change. “There are currently 5,576 children living in poverty. That's 33% of all children in the USVI,” noted Ms. James. A third of these children live in St. Croix. The Big Island also houses 42% of those children below age five 5 who live below the poverty line. According to more troubling demographics, the territory’s population is aging – and shrinking. “Approxima...