Child Poverty

  • Child Health

    The Senate Promised to Focus on Kids in the Next COVID-19 Relief Package. Here’s What They Should Do

    The Senate returned to work in Washington this week promising to act on additional COVID-19 relief legislation that their Republican leadership says will be focused on “bringing back jobs and making sure we take care of our kids.” But for more than two months, as children and families suffered, with Black families and other families of color disproportionately losing their lives and livelihoods to this crisis, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “hit pause” on additional relief legislation and refused to take up the HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives in mid-May, which builds on the groundwork laid by previous coronavirus relief packages to ease the damaging health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Senate considers additional relief legislation this week, they must prioritize the needs of children and families

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    CDF Joins the Call for USDA Waivers to Meet the Tremendous Need for Meals in the Upcoming School Year

    School districts are still establishing what “school” will look like next year, but many students will not be “at school” five days a week, with access to school breakfast and lunch each day. Instead, schools across the country are making plans to implement staggered schedules, remote learning, or some combination of the two. This means that communities will need the flexibility to provide meals to children at school, to send meals home with children when they are not at school, and to provide meals at community sites closer to children’s homes

  • Child Poverty

    Nearly 170 Organizations Call for Congress to Include the Pandemic TANF Assistance Act in the Next COVID-19 Relief Package

    We urge Congress to demonstrate their commitment to addressing systemic poverty and racial, and gender disparities by including the Pandemic TANF Assistance Act in the next COVID-19 legislative package. The emergency grant program included in this bill would help families and children, especially families of color, meet their basic needs and is an essential part of more significant action and assistance needed for our most vulnerable.

  • Child Poverty

    Millions of Children Could Lose Their Homes if Congress Fails to Act

    The scale of the COVID-19 crisis is already staggering, but what comes next could be even more significant: Unless Congress provides robust housing assistance and fully extends the eviction moratorium to cover more families, more than 20 million people will be at risk of eviction by the end of September—disproportionately Black and Latinx renters—making housing and racial justice a key concern for our communities and Congress.

    | National

  • Child Health

    Policy Brief: HEROES Act

    The Children’s Defense Fund-New York urges members of Congress to support the HEROES Act to help children and families struggling with food insecurity and unemployment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Child Poverty

    CDF Urges Congress to Expand the Child Tax Credit

    Ample research tells us that strengthening and expanding the Child Tax Credit and converting it into a monthly child allowance is one of the most powerful ways to address child poverty and increase long-term positive outcomes for our children. We strongly urge Congress to adopt changes to the Child Tax Credit, reflecting the provisions in the American Family Act (S.690/H.R. 1560), to ensure it is fully refundable and reaches all children in low- and no-income households with the greatest need.

  • Child Poverty

    The Urgent Need for the Senate to Take Action: Children and Families Need Cash Now

    Our children and families cannot afford to wait. Children’s lives have been upended by this pandemic - from their education, to their health, to growing hunger and homelessness. The Senate must take up an additional round of pandemic relief legislation immediately and include robust direct cash assistance to ensure that every family, especially families of color, can make ends meet during this crisis and beyond.

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    The Urgent Need to Extend Unemployment Insurance & Fight for Racial Justice

    It’s now up to the Senate to strengthen and enhance UI in additional COVID-19 legislation, yet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he wants to hit “pause” on any negotiations. Children and families don’t have time to wait. As unemployment soars in communities of color and UI claims climb, we see how persistent racial disparities in employment, wages, income, and poverty all make Black and Latinx families particularly vulnerable. There can be no “pause” on lifesaving assistance for our most vulnerable.

    | National

  • Child Poverty

    CDF Joins Over 2,000 Organizations Urging Congress to Expand SNAP Amid COVID-19

    COVID-19 has exacerbated already too high levels of food insecurity in America. We urge Congress and the White House to take action now to limit the depth and duration of this health and economic crisis by ensuring that the basic food needs of struggling families and individuals are met. Congress and the White House must act now to increase the SNAP maximum benefit, increase the SNAP monthly minimum benefit, and suspend SNAP time limits and rules changes that would cut SNAP eligibility and benefits.