Five years ago, Lori Long’s boyfriend asked her to marry him. For Lori, it was a dream come true. She has a significant disability – an autoimmune system that results in painful fractures in her spine, frequently leading to expensive hospital stays. Given her condition, she wasn’t sure she would ever marry. And now, five years later, Lori and her boyfriend, Mark Contreras, are still waiting. Not long after her engagement, she learned that marrying her fiancé, who does not have a disability, would mean completely losing her Social Security disability benefits as well as Medicaid.
Archives: Voices
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship February 18, 2022
The inflation inequality edition. Daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. continue to drop dramatically, as do hospitalizations. Deaths – finally – are following this trend, down significantly over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, here at home inflation rages at breakneck speed. While inflation is rising everywhere, affecting every income bracket, price hikes are particularly devastating to lower-income households with already tight budgets.
For these WV moms, the expanded Child Tax Credit paid for “bear” necessities
Even in a pandemic, the grounds of the U.S. Capitol tend to attract a lot of human visitors. But bears? Not so much. That changed earlier this month when a group of West Virginia moms, flanked by 500 teddy bears, gathered for a rally to highlight support for continuing the expanded Child Tax Credit that was passed in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan but was allowed to expire in December. It was all a part of the “Unbearable Campaign,” with the message being that allowing millions of American families to slip into poverty without the expanded CTC benefit is, well, unbearable.
More than 350 groups tell Congress: Pass a full-year FY 2022 spending bill to address years of stagnation and cuts in human needs programs
More than 350 local, state, and national organizations Thursday urged Congress to pass an FY 2022 appropriations bill in order to reverse years of stagnation and even cuts to programs covering a vast array of human needs.
Child Tax Credit/Earned Income Tax Credit Day of Action – at the White House, in the Capitol, and well beyond
Tuesday, February 8 was Child Tax Credit/Earned Income Tax Credit Day of Action, and at the White House, Capitol Hill, and cities across the nation, with service providers and people from all walks of life, all came together to make sure families with low incomes get the money they are due – and in some cases, to call for expanded CTC and EITC payments to continue.
Groups help erase medical debt for 24,000 Arkansans
Philanthropic groups have collaborated to erase more than $35 million in medical debt for Arkansas residents. Sarah Kinser, chief program officer of Arkansas Community Foundation – one of the groups that raised funds – said medical debt can cause serious financial stress. “People who have to service debt that they can’t afford may end up having to choose between feeding their family and repaying that debt,” said Kinser. “And especially as we’ve been in a pandemic and people have had unexpected medical costs. We know that debt burden is especially present on everyone’s minds.”
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship February 4, 2022
The post-pandemic planning edition. The rapid decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has prompted speculation that maybe, possibly, perhaps, the end of the pandemic is in sight. We can’t say for sure – we’ve been down that road before. But we can ask ourselves a fundamental question. When the pandemic recedes, do we want to go back to the pre-pandemic days? Or do we want to build something better, something lasting, something that boldly addresses the weaknesses and systemic inequities that predated COVID-19?
Some 67,000 workers get a pay raise – and more will soon follow
Thanks to President Biden, about 67,000 federal workers have now received a guaranteed $15 per hour minimum wage. And within this year, another 300,000 employees of federal contractors — who fill support positions for the government but are not federal workers — will join them. The move, which involved Biden filling a 2020 campaign pledge via executive order, affects workers in all U.S. states and territories. It covers a multitude of occupations, including wildland firefighters, plant protection technicians, and custodial workers.
Does long COVID affect disproportionately affect women, people of color?
Two House members have written a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking the agency to publicly release figures detailing how many Americans suffer from “long COVID,” including how many women and people of color are affected. Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) said it is “critical” for Congress and the American public to have access to data relating to long COVID “in order to inform policymaking and protect the public’s health.”
Another reason for Child Tax Credit expansion? Smarter babies.
If you are looking for even more evidence that extending the expanded Child Tax Credit is good public policy, consider this: a breakthrough new study suggests that such payments can make babies smarter. The study, released this week by the National Academy of Sciences, did not involve the CTC payments. However, it did examine low-income families who received just over $300 in monthly cash assistance during the first year of their children’s lives. It found that infants in families receiving the payments displayed more high-frequency brain waves when they reached 12 months of age.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship January 21, 2022
Biden’s first year edition. As President Biden marks his first year in office, the pandemic continues to exert its toll on the nation’s health care system and economy and presents a significant challenge that the Biden Administration has worked to address since Inauguration Day. At the same time, as we assess the President’s first year, we can see there is much to celebrate. 2021 witnessed unprecedented growth and recovery – and it did not happen by accident. The country experienced record job gains and a historic drop in unemployment.
Continuing King’s ‘revolution of values’
On January 15, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was leaving a planning meeting for the Poor People’s Campaign when he was called back into the room. It was his birthday — his last, it would turn out. The staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference would usually give King a new suit, but this year they wanted to make him laugh. Xernona Clayton teased, “We know how fond you are of our president Lyndon Johnson,” which got a laugh. Then she pulled out a metal cup engraved: “We are cooperating with Lyndon’s War on Poverty. Drop coins and bills in cup.”