Budget stabilizer: Child Tax Credit payments arrive for Wisconsin families
CHN Staff,
July 15, 2021
Advocates for working families in Wisconsin say it goes beyond cutting poverty rates. They say it will remove a lot of monthly budget pressure for scores of households. The tax credit, expanded under the American Rescue Plan, includes monthly payments of $250 to $300 for each child through the end of the year. The Coalition on Human Needs said nearly 1.2 million Wisconsin children will benefit from the overall expansion, and 46,000 kids will be lifted out of poverty. But advocates warn it's just a temporary increase, and there are repeated calls to make it permanent.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship July 9, 2021
CHN Staff,
July 9, 2021
The door-to-door-vaccination-drive edition. As of Thursday, 605,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. The CDC estimates that the more dangerous Delta variant now makes up a majority of new cases in the U.S. 67.1 percent of adults have at least one vaccine dose; 58.3 percent are fully vaccinated. The U.S. has been averaging fewer than 15,000 new cases a day for nearly a month. In recent days, however, the average number of new cases has started to trend slightly upward, driven largely by localized outbreaks in places with low vaccination rates, including parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Nevada.
Millions of evictions are coming. And rental assistance can’t arrive soon enough.
David Elliot,
July 9, 2021
With a federal moratorium set to expire in a matter of weeks, the Biden Administration, state and local officials, and housing advocates are scrambling to avoid what could soon be the biggest eviction crisis in U.S. history. Although the order provided a certain amount of protection for a time, the moratorium did nothing to help renters whose accumulated debt has grown larger and larger during the pandemic. Estimates vary as to how many American households are behind on their rent, but most experts put the number somewhere between 8 million and 13 million. Many of the estimated 30 million people living in these households will be at risk of eviction in a few short weeks.
New report: Good news for America’s kids – but with one major caveat
David Elliot,
June 30, 2021
The new Annie E. Casey Foundation KIDS COUNT Data Book is out and there is good news and bad news – and a strong recommendation that Congress make the Child Tax Credit expansion permanent. This year’s report found that between 2010 and 2019, children improved nationally in 11 out of 16 areas, essentially stayed the same in four areas, and fell further behind in one area – low birth weights. But the report comes with a major, fundamental caveat: the Foundation warns that nearly a decade of progress after the Great Recession could be erased by the COVID-19 pandemic unless policymakers act boldly to sustain the beginnings of a recovery.
CHN’s Podcast Episode 2: A Critical Moment to Reduce Child Poverty.
Abigail Alpern Fisch,
June 30, 2021
In our second episode of the Voices for Human Needs Podcast, hear from national policy advocates about what is at stake for children and families, the importance of making the Child Tax Credit expansion permanent, and actions you can take to join the fight to reduce child poverty across the country.
