On June 9, 2010, Melissa Boteach, manager of the Half In Ten Campaign, and Sophie Milam, senior policy counsel at Feeding America, released an article detailing the need for better access to summer meals for low-income children. As schools begin to let out this month, many children will face a summer of skipping meals or consuming the cheap, but empty calories that contribute to our nation’s obesity epidemic.

More than 31 million children benefit from the national school lunch program, 62 percent of whom receive free or reduced-price meals. But only one in six of these kids will receive a similarly subsidized summer meal during the summer months. This column outlines specific policy solutions to address the “summer hunger gap” as Congress considers the Child Nutrition bill.

The full article could be read here.

May 25, 2010

What is the Earned Income Tax Credit and why does it matter?

The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the single most important ways to make work pay. The EITC is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-wage working individuals and families. Refundable means that if a worker’s credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, they can receive the difference in the form of a tax refund. Congress originally approved this program in 1975 in part to offset the burden of payroll taxes and to provide an incentive to work. Today, the EITC remains essential to promote economic security and allow low-income workers maintain a decent standard of living.

The EITC is a public policy that reflects basic values—at its core is the belief that individuals who work full time at minimum wage simply should not be forced to raise families below the poverty line. The EITC helps these Americans earn a sufficient amount so that work pays more than welfare. Parents who earn $10,000 to $20,000 each year are eligible under EITC for the highest credit, and the credit amount decreases as annual earnings increase.

Download this fact sheet (pdf)

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May 25, 2010

What is the Child Tax Credit and why does it matter?

The Child Tax Credit is one of the most important ways to protect families’ economic security. The CTC gives working parents additional funds to help them cope with the rising costs of maintaining a household and raising their children. Depending on the family’s earnings, the CTC allows families to claim up to $1,000 for each child. It represents an essential way to help families achieve and maintain their basic quality of life.

Yet the CTC’s effectiveness depends a great deal on how the credit is structured. The credit was not able to meet its full potential in the past because program rules often denied low-income families the full benefits of the credit. In fact, annual earnings below $13,000 were not considered in calculating tax credit, denying the credit to those who needed it most. Congress made sensible reforms to the CTC last year that allow families to count their yearly earnings below $13,000, but these changes are temporary and are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010.

An end of these improvements would be devastating for low-wage families across America. A parent who works full time in a minimum wage position will have his or her credit reduced from $1,800 to $320 at the end of 2010 if Congress does not make the change permanent. This reduction would seriously threaten the ability of low-income, hard-working families to maintain their economic security and self-sufficiency. And it would push 600,000 children of working families into poverty.

Download this fact sheet (pdf).

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May 24, 2010

A national dialogue is developing around America’s relationship with food. As it moves forward, there is a need to recognize that far too many low-income children simply do not have enough nutritious food to eat. More than 16 million of them live in food insecure households. This threatens the health and well-being of children and generally places great strain on their families.

The Obama administration, with the leadership of Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, has made a commitment to address the problem while Congress is in the process of reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act. These circumstances provide a genuine opportunity for meaningful change. Charitable efforts and other policies aimed at reducing poverty also play an important role in finally achieving the goal of ending childhood hunger in America. This event will mark the release of a new Half In Ten/CAP paper, “Feeding Opportunity: Ending Child Hunger Furthers the Goal of Cutting U.S. Poverty in Half Over the Next Decade.”

Introduction by:
Winnie Stachelberg, Senior Vice President of External Affairs, Center for American Progress

Keynote Speaker:
Secretary Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture

Featured Panelists:
Joel Berg, Executive Director, New York City Coalition Against Hunger
Tianna Gaines, Parent Advocate, Witnesses to Hunger
Michelle Gilliard, Senior Director, Walmart Foundation
Jim Weill, President, Food Research and Action Center

Moderated by:
Joy Moses, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress

On Friday, May 14, the Half in Ten Campaign held a briefing on Capitol Hill to highlight the innovative anti-poverty work currently being conducted in a variety of sectors while calling attention to the need for greater federal leadership to continue to make progress across all sectors. Representatives from the philanthropic sector, the nonprofit community, and the Delaware state government each shared the best practices that have developed within their respective fields. Their successes illustrate ways to scale up and support their innovative work and also strongly suggest the need for federal leadership to enhance anti-poverty efforts for the future.

View the slides presented by Terry Schooley and Mari Brennan Barrera at the May 14 briefing.

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By Joel Berg | May 24, 2010

Read the full report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Download to mobile devices and e-readers from Scribd

Event: Ending Childhood Hunger in America

Child Hunger by the Numbers

Even before the worst of the current economic downturn, child hunger was a serious problem in the United States. In 2008, 16.6 million American children—more than one in five—lived in homes that couldn’t afford enough food for their families. The Great Recession has only made matters worse.

Child hunger in the world’s wealthiest nation is not only morally unacceptable, but it costs the U.S. economy at least $28 billion per year because poorly nourished children perform less well in school and require far more long-term health care spending. Further, food insufficiency severely hampers children’s emotional, intellectual, and physical development, and it strongly hinders the upward mobility of their parents.

President Barack Obama and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, have set a national goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015. Reaching this goal is critical to cutting poverty in half in 10 years, which is the primary aim of the Half In Ten Campaign, a partnership among the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Coalition on Human Needs, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Poverty and hunger are interrelated problems, and the steps we take to eradicate child hunger will ultimately lay a solid foundation for realizing the ambitious but achievable poverty reduction target. Likewise, limiting poverty will reduce hunger and make it far less expensive for the nation to end hunger entirely.

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To combat the economic difficulties of the Great Recession, leaders across many different sectors of society have developed creative anti-poverty solutions that allow them to deploy the unique tools at their disposal. Listening to these voices from the field illuminates the successes of each sector and simultaneously suggests the need for greater federal leadership to continue make progress in the future.
The Half in Ten campaign’s briefing “Voices from the Field: The Need for Federal Leadership in Cutting Poverty and Promoting Economic Opportunity,” will highlight the innovative anti-poverty work carried out by leaders across various sectors, including state legislatures, philanthropic organizations, and communities of faith. It will call attention to the need for greater federal leadership to provide a cohesive vision and to scale up the best practices developed within each sector. This is the third briefing in the series, “Restoring Economic Opportunity: The Need for a Recovery that Cuts Poverty in Half in Ten Years.”

At this event, Delaware State Representative Terry Schooley (DE-23) will share some of the best practices that have developed in Delaware’s poverty commission as an example of how state government can play a role in fighting poverty. Andrea Silbert, the president of Massachusetts’ Eos Foundation, will offer a glimpse into the work of the nonprofit sector in supporting children and families. Stacey Stewart, the executive vice president at United Way Worldwide, will explore the impact of the philanthropic sector in shaping a global response to poverty.

Date: May 14, 2010

Time: 11:00 AM -12:30 PM

Room: Congressional Meeting Room SOUTH (CVC 217)

Speakers

Terry Schooley, Delaware State Representative (DE-23)

Andrea Silbert, President, Eos Foundation of Massachusetts

Stacey D. Stewart, Executive Vice President at United Way Worldwide, Center for Community Leadership and Community Impact Leadership

Please RSVP to [email protected].

Last Friday, April 9, the Half-in-Ten Campaign’s briefing on Capitol Hill shed light on the rural, suburban, and urban faces of poverty and illuminated place-based strategies to combat poverty in every type of district. Not all communities experience poverty in the same way, and so it is essential to recognize the particular challenges experienced within different regions in order to create more effective policy solutions.

Listen to a podcast featuring anti-poverty experts Beth Mattingly, Elizabeth Kneebone, and Daniel Dodd, as well as Half in Ten Campaign Manager Melissa Boteach.

View the slides presented by Beth Mattingly, Elizabeth Kneebone, and Daniel Dodd at the April 9 briefing.

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The Great Recession has brought poverty and economic insecurity to every kind of community, but not all communities are experiencing the crisis in the same way. As Congress considers strategies to increase economic opportunity, it is important to recognize that different types of regions are facing different challenges.

The Half in Ten campaign’s briefing “Strategies to Tackle Poverty in Your State and District: Rural, Suburban, and Urban Solutions,” will focus on place-based solutions to cut poverty and promote economic opportunity. This is the second briefing in the series, “Restoring Economic Opportunity: The Need for a Recovery that Cuts Poverty in Half in Ten Years,”
At this event, Step Up Savannah Executive Director Daniel Dodd will offer best practices in fighting poverty in urban areas, using his experiences in Savannah, Georgia as an example of how government can work with different sectors to help families achieve self-sufficiency. Beth Mattingly of The Carsey Institute will address the specific needs of low-income families in rural communities. And the Brookings Institution’s Elizabeth Kneebone will address the growing issue of suburban poverty and economic insecurity. Read more »

The Minnesota Half in Ten coalition has been very active the past month, holding several events and educating hundreds of Minnesotans on the Half in Ten campaign and our shared policy priorities.

The Joint Religious Legislative Coalition just last week held a Day on the Hill at the Minnesota state capitol, where more than 1,000 activists learned about the Half in Ten campaign and advocated on state and federal issues to reduce poverty.

Nancy Maeker, the executive director of A Minnesota Without Poverty, keynoted three Bread for the World workshop events in late February, helping to gather more than 200 letters in support of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.

And A Minnesota Without Poverty also hosted a statewide gathering in late February on five sites to report on the progress toward ending poverty and to issue a call to action. Affirmative Options Coalition and Joint Religious Legislative Coalition were two of the co-sponsors for the event which drew more than 400 people in St. Paul, Duluth, Moorhead, Willmar, and Rochester, with additional supporters joining the webcast program online. The call to action highlighted coordinating the Minnesota legislative agenda with the Half in Ten issues and encouraged advocates to support the Half in Ten campaign. After the formal program, all participants gathered around tables for discussion, letter writing, phone calling—and food.

You can view photos and an introductory video from the gathering on Facebook.

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