The recent progress made in reducing child poverty in the United States shows us that child poverty is a solvable problem when there is the political will to address it.  Yet the fact that the 2021 improvements to the Child Tax Credit have yet to be extended, despite their documented effectiveness and popularity, shows that we need to do more to hold our national, state, and local decision makers accountable for keeping child poverty reduction a top priority. 

California provides a strong example for the rest of the country.  After advocates, lawmakers, and researchers came together in 2017 to set a state child poverty reduction target and develop a comprehensive plan to meet this goal, the End Child Poverty in California campaign secured significant policy wins in the past few years that are having a big impact on reducing child poverty and racial and economic disparities. New York and Puerto Rico have recently followed suit with similar efforts.

The U.S. Child Poverty Action Group and GRACE & End Child Poverty California campaign held a webinar, Ending Child Poverty at the Federal and State Level, on April 12, 2021 at 1pm EST/10am PST to discuss recent wins across the country and share how child advocates can take action to build on these efforts to urge Congress to pass the Child Poverty Reduction Act (S. 643/H.R. 1558) and establish a national child poverty reduction target in the United States.

 Remarks

• Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA)

• Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA)

• Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL)

• Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)

• Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA)

• Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)

Presenters 

• Cara Baldari, VP of Family Economics, First Focus Campaign for Children

• Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty CA

• Crystal Charles, Policy Analyst, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy

• Carmen Isaura Rodriguez, Director of Advocacy, Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud (Youth Development Institute)

Materials:

• Federal Action Alert: Hold Congress Accountable to Ending Child Poverty

• End Child Poverty CA Campaign Report: Reducing Child Poverty in California: Legislative Results from the Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty Task Force Report

• Schuyler Center Report: State of New York’s Children

• Schuyler Center Explainer: The Child Poverty Reduction Act is Law: What Does it Do?

Growing up in poverty has life-long consequences for a child’s physical and mental health and economic well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated conditions for millions of children and families. Yet, child poverty is not an intractable problem. Join leading national experts in an engaging dialogue on actions that can be taken to address urgent threats to children and our stubbornly high child poverty rates.

This webinar will feature a discussion between Jeff Madrick, director of the Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative and author of Invisible Americans, and three members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s consensus committee that authored the landmark report, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty, Greg Duncan, Christine James-Brown, and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia.

Featuring:

Jeff Madrick, author, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, and director of the Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative

Greg Duncan, distinguished professor of education, University of California, Irvine

Christine James-Brown, president and chief executive officer, Child Welfare League of America

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold professor of human development and social policy and director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

Moderator, Cara Baldari, vice president of family economics, First Focus on Children

Sponsored by The Century Foundation’s Bernard L. Schwartz Rediscovering Government Initiative, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and First Focus on Children

The 2020 decennial census is coming up quickly and children are at high risk of being left out. Young children are the population most likely to be undercounted in the census as well as the population most likely to be living in poverty, which has serious repercussions for their well-being and future success. Join us to learn why an accurate and comprehensive count of children in the 2020 Census is crucial to reducing child poverty, and how your organization can take action.

View slides/View recording

Additional Resources

A Snapshot of Children Living in Poverty in 2018

GWU’s Counting for Dollars 2020 Project: The Role of Decennial Census in the Geographic Distribution of Federal Funds

Count All Kids Committee: Consequences of the Young Child Undercount in the 2010 Decennial Census by State

Program on Government Oversight: The Distribution of Census-Guided Federal Funds to U.S. Communities: Five Program Examples

How Can Libraries Help Count All Kids in the 2020 Census?

How Community Leaders Can Partner with Libraries to Achieve a Complete Count 

Presenters

Deb Stein, Network Director, Partnership for America's Children

Cara Baldari, VP of Family Economics, First Focus on Children

Anne Hedgepeth, Senior Director of Federal and State Government Affairs, Child Care Aware of America

Gavin Baker, Deputy Director, Public Policy & Government Relations, American Library Association

The U.S. Census Bureau just released new numbers on child poverty in the United States. Join the End Child Poverty Campaign to dive into the new data, and then hear from advocates who will go beyond the numbers to discuss the current legislative and administrative child poverty landscape and how you can take action.

View slides/View recording

Additional Resources

Child Poverty Action Group Calls for National Poverty Targets

We Know We Can Cut Child Poverty in Half, So Why Aren’t We?

Census Says: Tax Credits, SNAP and Other Benefit Programs Work. So Lets Make Them Stronger

Moderator

Cara Baldari, VP of Family Economics, First Focus on Children

Presenters

Linda Giannarelli, Senior Fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center, Urban Institute

Brian Dittmeier, Senior Public Policy Counsel, National WIC Association

Michelle Dallafior, Senior VP, Budget and Tax Policy, First Focus on Children