Child poverty is a growing problem in Michigan. Since 2000, child poverty rates have increased from 14 to 17 percent, and there are approximately 26,000 more poor children in the state. . . Economic hardship is particularly acute in Detroit where a higher percentage of children are poor than in any other major city in the nation except Atlanta. . . Detroit’s child poverty rate is 39 percent, and a startling 72 percent of Detroit’s children live in families that are low income, defined as twice the official poverty level, or $40,000 a year for a family of four in 2006.