The Half in Ten campaign advocate for tested policy solutions – at the Federal, State, and even Local level - that will increase opportunity and cut poverty. Full List of Policy Solutions
March 3, 2009
The Center for American Progress has summarized key features of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, the Obama Administration’s housing and anti-foreclosure bill. Click here to read the CAP brief.
February 19, 2009
Half in Ten partner ACORN applauded the Obama Administration’s housing bill today, noting that it contains many essential elements of ACORN’s memo to the Obama Administration: Housing for America: Roadmap Out of the Crisis.
Said ACORN CEO, Bertha Lewis: “Finally, a President who is a friend of homeowners when it counts.”
Click here to read the full article from ACORN.
February 9, 2009
From the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a Half in Ten partner-
As the economic recession deepens and more people are laid off of work, welfare assistance for families is failing to pick up the slack.
Last year, 18 states reduced the number of families that receive assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, according to a New York Times analysis of state figures. Read more »
In his presentation, The Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap Between What We know and What we Do, Dr. Jack Shonkoff illustrates the ways that stresses like poverty can permanently impair children’s development.
Unemployment Insurance helps keep families from losing their homes and falling into poverty when workers lose their jobs, and economists tell us that it is among the most effective forms of stimulus.
Click here to tell your members of Congress to include UIMA in the recovery package today! Please note that this campaign is no longer active.
February 4, 2009
Click here to read Half in Ten’s summary on the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
From the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a Half in Ten partner-
Take Action Now:
Call your senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them to help the children and families most in need by passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (S.1) with a Child Tax Credit (CTC) without an earnings threshold. Read more »
Harry J. Holzer
The Urban Institute
As the nation’s labor market slides into a deeper recession, what kinds of employment and training provisions should be included for our least-educated and most-disadvantaged workers? Read more »
Both the House and Senate economic recovery bills would expand the federal Child Tax Credit, but there’s a major difference between them. Twelve million low-income children would benefit more from the House version: 2.2 million additional low-income children would qualify for the credit and 10 million more would receive a larger credit. The House approach would translate into an additional $3.9 billion total for very low-income families.
The difference between the two approaches occurs because the House bill counts all family earnings when calculating its Child Tax Credit, while the Senate bill only counts earnings exceeding $6,000 a year. Working families with earnings below $6,000 are therefore helped under the House bill, but not the Senate version, and other low-earning families get a larger credit under the House bill because all of their earnings are considered when the credit is calculated.
Read more »
From the Coalition on Human Needs
Click here to read the letter sent to members of Congress on February 9, 2009.
Organizations: Sign a Letter Supporting Child Tax Credit Help for 13 Million Children - and create jobs at the same time!
The economic recovery bill introduced in the House of Representatives would make a major improvement in the federal Child Tax Credit. The bill would diminish an inequity that has made the current credit unavailable to the poorest working families with children. The improvement would be temporary — structured to last for the next two years. But, at a time when millions of families are struggling due to job losses, reduced hours, and low wages, the improved credit would both help provide needed stimulus to the economy and help low-income working families make ends meet.
