But What About the Baby?

For the first time in decades, more people are moving to Philadelphia than leaving it. Furthermore, many of the new, middle-class arrivals are sticking around to have children and raise families, a significant departure from trends of the past. But alongside the rehabbed brownstones and loft-style condos, hundreds of thousands of families continue to live in poverty, giving Philly the dubious distinction of having a 28 percent poverty rate, the highest of any major city. The income disparities have an especially stark impact on maternal health and infant care. The connection between socioeconomics and infant health is strong enough that when maternal health statistics are aggregated onto maps and color-coded, the poorer sections of the city are wholly different colors than wealthier sections. Next City Fellow Allyn Gaestel tells the story of two Philadelphia mothers — one living in tony Center City, the other in North Philly — to see how the urban baby care gap plays out for the people who actually raise children in Philadelphia and cities everywhere.