President Obama Wednesday visited Flint, Michigan to highlight the federal government’s response to the lead poisoning scandal and to renew calls for Congress to pass emergency assistance for the beleaguered city of 100,000. The presidential visit comes one day after the Coalition on Human Needs and allies hosted Child Lead…
Archives: Voices
Get the lead out.
On the eve of President Obama’s trip to Flint, Michigan, human needs advocates and health care experts came together Tuesday to discuss how best to address the catastrophe of lead poisoning in the United States and its causes and effects. Hundreds of participants from across the country participated in Child…
Fact of the Week: Number of Children Benefiting from Federal Low-Income Child Care Program at 16 Year Low
The number of children receiving child care funded by the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) fell to a 16-year low, according the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). The CCDBG is the primary source of federal funding for helping low-income families pay for child care, with half…
‘We can’t fix poverty without fixing housing’
It all began with a snowball. Arleen’s 14-year-old son Jori and his cousin were throwing snowballs at passing cars. One driver took umbrage, slamming his brakes, chasing Jori into the family’s apartment and kicking down the front door. When Arleen’s landlord found out about the property damage, Arlene and her…
Upcoming Webinar on Child Lead Poisoning
Please join us for an important webinar: Child Lead Poisoning: Preventable Harm Tuesday, May 3, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET Register Today!!! The lead poisoning of children (and adults) in Flint, Michigan has focused the nation’s attention on the terrible human cost of allowing contamination of our water supply. We…
Human Needs Report: Spending Bills Move, Supreme Court Hears Immigration Case, New Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill Introduced and More
CHN just released our latest edition of the Human Needs Report, our regular newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. This edition includes articles on appropriations action in Congress, the Supreme Court case against President Obama’s immigration executive actions, legislation regulating paid tax preparers, funding for emergencies and the new House Child…
Raise that wage.
Members of Congress and workers’ advocates today renewed their push for an increase in the hourly federal minimum wage to $12 – a move that would reflect the recent frenzy of state and local movement on the issue and would mean larger pay checks for 35 million Americans. Originally sponsored…
The “Price of Paying Taxes” Is Highest for Lower-Income Americans
This piece was originally published by Washington Monthly on April 18, 2016. Tax day is upon us, and while most of us growl and bear the annual time (and money) spent on tax preparation, less attention has been paid to how the costs of tax compliance particularly hurt low-income workers. It’s…
Maverick, Violet and How Trickle Down Economics Fails to #ActOnPoverty
Maverick Bishop says he and his mom have stayed in every homeless shelter there is in San Francisco. When there wasn’t room in the shelters, they slept in hospital lobbies, along with other, even-less-desirable locations. Today, due in large part to a mentoring program Maverick was enrolled in, and the…
Flint Update: Good…Not Good Enough
There is some “new” news out of Flint this week: Recent testing of lead in the city’s troubled water system shows things are improving six months after the city switched its water source and began adding chemicals to control corrosion of aging pipes. That’s the good news. The bad news…
Head Smacker: U.S. Corporate Taxes are Below Average, but Some Continue to Call for Lowering Them Even Further
We’ve repeatedly heard the calls from “pro-business” members of Congress and supporters: the U.S. corporate tax rate is too high. It drives businesses overseas, they say. We need to lower the corporate tax rate to bring and keep business here, allow U.S. companies to compete internationally, create jobs and grow…
The Wage Gap is Ridiculous and It’s Time for it to End
Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post on April 11, 2016. To take action on Equal Pay Day, join AAUW, the National Partnership for Women and Families, the National Women’s Law Center, 9to5 and others in the Fair Pay Coalition for a Twitter storm at 2pm using #EqualPay and #EqualPayDay….