ALPENA — Fewer Northeast Michigan kids and young adults are impoverished and fewer Northeast Michigan teens are getting pregnant, but work remains to prepare our children academically, according to a national report on child welfare released this week.

From 2016 to 2021, the share of kids living in poverty shrank in Alpena, Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alcona counties, according to the 2023 Kids Count Data Book released this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Michigan League for Public Policy.

Northeast Michigan childhood poverty ranged from about 23% in Presque Isle County to 28.5% in Montmorency County in 2021, the report said. The statewide childhood poverty rate stood at about 18%.

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Also from 2016 to 2021, poverty among those ages 18 to 24 fell in Alpena, Presque Isle, and Montmorency counties and stayed essentially flat in Alcona County, according to the report.

Young adult poverty ranged in 2021 from about 8% in Presque Isle County to 25% in Alcona County. The statewide rate came in at 21.5%.

And the rate of births to teens ages 15 to 19 improved between 2016 and 2021 in Alpena, Presque Isle, and Alcona counties. It worsened in Montmorency County.

The 2021 teen birth rate ranged from about 10 births per 1,000 teens in Presque Isle County to about 23 births per 1,000 teens in Montmorency County. The statewide teen birth rate that year was 13 per 1,000.

Anne Kuhnen, Kids Count in Michigan policy director for the Michigan League for Public Policy, attributes the improved poverty rates to federal and state coronavirus pandemic-era programs that pumped a lot of money into child welfare programs.

“I do view this more as a snapshot in time, rather than a new trend that we’re embarking on,” she said. “We made a lot of decisions, a lot of policy decisions that were positive for children and families, but that were ultimately temporary.”

And the Kids Count Data Book showed Northeast Michigan still has a lot of work to do to prepare kids academically, with mixed results on preschool enrollment, graduation rates, and third-grade reading proficiency.

The share of 3- and 4-year-olds in preschool fell in Alpena and Montmorency counties, but climbed in Presque Isle and Alcona counties between 2016 and 2021.

Preschool enrollment in 2021 ranged from 23.5% in Montmorency County to about 48% in Alcona County. The statewide enrollment rate was about 45%.

The share of third-graders who scored on state tests as proficient in reading fell in Presque Isle and Alcona counties from 2016 to 2022. It improved in Alpena County. Data was unavailable for Montmorency County.

Northeast Michigan’s third-grade reading proficiency in 2022 ranged from about 18% in Alcona County to 39% in Alpena County. Statewide, about 42% of third-graders were proficient readers that year.

Graduation rates in 2022 declined in Alpena and Alcona counties but improved in Presque Isle and Montmorency counties, according to the Data Book.

That year’s graduation rates ranged from 74% in Alpena County to 88% in Presque Isle County, while 81% of Michigan high schoolers graduated on time that year.