New Data Profiles Shed Light on the State of Pennsylvania’s Children
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Asia Tabb
AIRED; August 19, 2025
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A new report is offering a deeper look into the well-being of children across Pennsylvania, providing insights at both the county and state levels. The State of the Child Profiles, published annually by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC), aim to spark critical conversations about children’s health, education, and economic stability.
“These profiles are a very comprehensive look at child well-being in Pennsylvania,” said Kelly Hoffman, Vice President of Data and Operations at PPC. “It is a lot of data. If anything, it really sparks a lot of conversation for grantmakers, advocates, and policymakers. We’re trying to get as much data as possible that relates to what we do at PPC, but also is really helpful for anyone who wants to understand what the state of the child looks like in their county.”
A Deeper, Interactive View
For the 2025 release, PPC partnered with Harrisburg University to create interactive tools that make the data more accessible.
“So essentially they’re maps,” explained Albert Sarvis, Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at Harrisburg University. “As Kelly already mentioned, there’s a ton of data behind these indicators. Organizing that in a spatial and visual way allows the general public to look at it on a visual basis.”
The maps allow users to compare counties, explore school district data, and even dig deeper into specific indicators such as child poverty rates, health outcomes, or educational access. “The maps are really cool just because you can click on each of the geographies,” Hoffman added. “More information is presented than what’s even on the profile itself.”
Troubling Trends
Hoffman noted that the latest data continues to reflect the lasting effects of the pandemic. “Since the pandemic, we’ve really been seeing the impacts in education and also perinatal and children’s health,” she said. “We’re definitely seeing, unfortunately, increases in the number of children in poverty. And just knowing where we are at a federal level, we’re nervous to see how some of that data is going to continue to trend in the wrong direction.”
Responsible Storytelling
For Harrisburg University, part of the challenge was ensuring the data was represented responsibly. “Certain counties would have no information. We didn’t want to make people draw the wrong conclusions,” Sarvis said. “You have a real responsibility—an ethical responsibility even—when depicting this kind of data in a cartographic way.”
A Tool for Policymakers and Parents
The ultimate goal of the profiles is to inform and inspire change at multiple levels. “I would hope that people could see the visual depiction of these indicators across the state,” Sarvis said. “Maybe draw inferences that really do spark a visual memory so that it makes a bigger impact than just seeing something in a table.”
Hoffman agreed, emphasizing that the tools are not just for policymakers. “It’s really a matter of being able to look at what might be additional supports or services that could be used within that county,” she said. “Even allowing parents to see—especially anybody moving into Pennsylvania—where could the best place be for me to raise my child?”
With new interactive tools and updated data, the State of the Child Profiles aim to provide a clearer picture of challenges facing children—and the opportunities to support them—across every corner of the Commonwealth.
