Children and families need ongoing support and access to healthy, nutritious meals during the pandemic and beyond. We cannot revert back to strict, outdated, and inflexible standards that leave millions of children—disproportionately Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children—behind and vulnerable to hunger. To truly build back better and advance racial equity, we must fully and finally eliminate barriers to healthy food and success for all children. Congress can—and must—begin right now and advance a bold CNR bill.
More than 1 in 4, or approximately 18 million, children in the U.S. live with at least one immigrant parent or are immigrants themselves. For children—and this nation—to flourish and prosper, we must commit to policies that reflect this demographic reality and promote all children’s well-being. Yet far too many federal poverty-fighting tools operate from a default position of immigrant exclusion, leaving too many children behind. Our leaders must lean into this opportunity to make expansions to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) permanent, accessible, inclusive, and fair.