Irvine Good Spot for Kids, Study Finds

IRVINE —  Few teen pregnancies, good air and water quality, low levels of child poverty and low dropout rates add up to make Irvine the third most child-friendly city in the nation in a poll just released by Zero Population Growth.

In the yearlong nationwide study by the educational organization, quality-of-life measurements such as crime rates, income and infant mortality were tallied for 219 cities of more than 100,000 people. Irvine’s high rating in all areas placed it third overall, behind Naperville, Ill., and Overland Park, Kan.

“We are very thrilled about this and see it as an outstanding accolade,” said Irvine Mayor Christina L. Shea. “But it didn’t just happen; it came from proactive planning and promoting activities for the youth in our community with a focus on teens and middle-school children.”

Other Orange County cities to place high on the list were Huntington Beach, which came in 12th, Orange, 29th, Fullerton, 35th, and Garden Grove, 47th.

Huntington Beach Mayor Ralph Bauer said his city’s ranking shows the work officials have done to ensure that the community remains “family-focused and child-focused.

“We are fortunate enough to have a large number of families living here, and we give strong support to those families,” Bauer said.

In Garden Grove, City Manager George Tindall said, “This is a community of individuals and organizations who care about people and children, and it’s great we were recognized for our fine and hard work.”

Efforts like the Boys and Girls Clubs’ after-school latchkey program, youth groups organized by churches, and city-sponsored recreational activities help keep children busy and out of trouble, Tindall said. After-school tutoring and counseling programs also have helped meet the needs of the city’s children.

Peter H. Kostmayer, executive director of Zero Population Growth, said the study “takes a hard look at what’s going right and wrong in our cities today and pinpoints--often in very stark terms--the problems we need to tackle and the successes we need to recognize to deliver a better tomorrow to our kids.”

The study set criteria in the fields of health, education, economics, crime and environment. Irvine placed second overall in economics and seventh in crime. It was rated the fourth healthiest city in the country in which to live.

Similarly, Huntington Beach was ranked the ninth healthiest city, the seventh-best economically, with the ninth-lowest crime rate.

Gary, Ind., came in last on the list, with Detroit and Newark, N.J., just above it. Los Angeles ranked 146th.

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CHILD-FRIENDLY PLACES

Irvine ranks third in a list of cities considered to be child-friendly, according to a recent study. Among factors considered were low child poverty, low teen pregnancy, low dropout rate and clean air and water. Here are the top five, and the rankings of some other Orange County cities:

1. Naperville, Ill.

2. Overland Park, Kan.

3. Irvine

4. Plano, Texas

5. Fargo, N.D.

12. Huntington Beach

29. Orange

35. Fullerton

47. Garden Grove

62. Anaheim

128. Santa Ana

Source: Zero Population Growth study