Child Care
The high cost of child care disproportionately affects low-income families, and the currently available assistance is inadequate – leaving out over 13.5 million eligible children. Federal and state assistance with child care costs for low and moderate income families, along with an expansion of the child care tax credit, and support for increasing the quality of care will lift millions of children out of poverty, and have a substantial impact on their long-term success.
Robert Greenstein, founder and executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, spoke at the Center for American Progress on Friday, December 5 about CAP’s proposed economic recovery package. Referring to the current recession as probably the longest and deepest since World War II, Greenstein highlighted the severe unemployment crisis and its relationship to poverty. CBPP recently released a report predicting the number of people in poverty will rise by between 7.5 million and 10.3 million.
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Tags: Event | Posted in Child Care, Foreclosure Prevention, Green Jobs, Unemployment Insurance
The Coalition on Human Needs and the Emergency Campaign for America’s Priorities have released a report in conjunction with their webcast on the economic crisis.
The report describes about $90 billion in economic recovery measures specifically targeted to assist low- and moderate-income families, including the extension and modernization of unemployment insurance benefits, the development of green jobs, increased funding for Head Start and other early education programs, and protections for renters and low-income homeowners.
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Tags: Federal | Posted in Child Care, Foreclosure Prevention, Green Jobs, Unemployment Insurance
By Peter B. Edelman, Mark H. Greenberg, and Harry J. Holzer in the Washington Post
As policymakers struggle to respond to the global financial meltdown, most analysts suggest that our economy is entering a fairly serious and lengthy recession, with perhaps the highest unemployment rates in a generation. If true, this would inflict economic pain on most Americans — but the most severe effects will be felt by disadvantaged adults, youths and their families.
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Posted in Child Care, Green Jobs, Measuring Poverty, Minimum Wage
In light of the substantial (and rising) costs of child care in the United States, the National Women’s Law Center released an analysis of the child care policies enacted by various states. While some advances have been made in the last year or so, NWLC found that over the last decade, most states made no progress, and in many cases, have actually moved backward in dealing with this problem.
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Tags: Children, State and Local | Posted in Child Care
Lisa Donner, the Executive Director of Half in Ten, contributes to Politico’s “Dear 44: Ideas for the Next President” series:
What should the 44th president do about poverty in our great nation? He should make cutting poverty a clear goal of his administration and prioritize a set of initiatives that will make the most significant contributions to meeting it. We can — and should — cut poverty in half in the next 10 years.
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Posted in Child Care, Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, Minimum Wage, Poverty in America Today, Press Room
Speaking before activists and community leaders at North
Philadelphia’s Thankful Baptist Church, Senator John Edwards launched
the Half in Ten campaign by calling on Congress, the presidential
candidates, and all Americans to make the fight against poverty a
priority.
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Tags: Event, Pennsylvania | Posted in Child Care, Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, Foreclosure Prevention, Green Jobs, Minimum Wage, Poverty in America Today, Unemployment Insurance
