Twenty years ago I drove into work at the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC and saw the twin towers coming down on a television set just as I entered the building. Our location was a short walk from the U.S. Capitol; we didn’t know what else might happen. A few minutes later the Pentagon was attacked. The Metro shut down as a precaution; we needed to evacuate, and I took as many people as possible to drive to their homes. The streets were gridlocked; it took many hours.
Archives: Voices
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship September 10, 2021
The (mostly) back-to-school edition. Millions of kids are back in school – some for the first time in 18 months. Polling shows parents are happy about this – but also favor safety measures such as mask mandates. Although experts broadly agree students should be in school as opposed to learning virtually, there is much cause for concern. Kids now account for more than one in four COVID-19 cases nationwide. In just the past week, 1,400 schools had to close and go to virtual learning due to COVID-19 outbreaks. In Texas alone, 50,000 K-12 students have tested positive. And 13 employees of Miami-Dade County schools have died.
A Matter of Equity: The Expanded Child Tax Credit
Next week,, the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to mark up legislation relating to the newly expanded Child Tax Credit, an important step toward making the CTC permanent and available beyond this year to almost all families with children. Making the CTC permanent, including children of immigrant families among its recipients, and making it fully refundable – meaning the lowest-income families would receive the same benefit as everyone else – are keys to lifting low-income families out of poverty as well as battling systemic racism in America.
COVID-19 already made America’s housing crisis worse. And then the Supreme Court intervened and Ida happened.
Even before the pandemic hit, America faced a housing crisis, with high rates of homelessness, and, in a typical year, one million evictions processed through the courts. Then COVID-19 wrecked the economy, causing massive job loss beginning in March and April 2020 – some 6.5 million renter households fell behind in rent as families struggled. Now, within a 72-hour period last week, many of these same families faced a double whammy.
CHN’s Podcast Episode 4: Housing is Health Care, and Finding the Political Will to End Homelessness
Listeners will hear from two members of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council: Dr. Courtney Plasden from Portland, Maine, the council’s clinical director, and Art Rios Sr., the Chair of the National Health Care Consumer Advisory Board based out of Portland, Oregon. In addition, we are joined by Steve Berg, the Vice President of Policy and Programs at the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington D.C. Steve shares how advocates at the grassroots and federal levels must continue to push forward policies during the budget reconciliation process and economic recovery legislation that could make a real difference in the lives of those at risk of, or facing, homelessness. All three speakers encourage listeners to contact their elected officials during the budget process to let them know that investing in programs and policies to combat homelessness is an issue of importance to their constituents.
Next Week’s Podcast Reiterates Housing Is Health Care. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Ruling Puts Millions At Risk for Eviction.
Stay tuned for our upcoming episode of the Voices for Human Needs podcast, launching next week! In this episode, co-hosts Abigail Alpern Fisch and Leo Nguen will discuss issues of housing, health care, and policy to address the challenges for those experiencing poverty and facing homelessness. You will hear from two members of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council: Dr. Courtney Plasden from Portland, Maine, the council’s clinical director, and Art Rios Sr., the Chair of the National Health Care Consumer Advisory Board based out of Portland, Oregon. Courtney and Art share how their lived experiences with homelessness influence their ongoing work providing direct services to homeless populations both before, and during, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brand new data and reports show impact of expanded CTC: ‘This is huge for low-income families’
Last week, Voices for Human Needs discussed recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse survey that showed the first round of child tax credits – distributed beginning July 15 – caused a significant drop in hunger and economic hardship. Now the Census Bureau, as reported by the Economic Security Project, has released brand new data, collected after the second installment of payments was distributed in August. And the news is even better. The new figures show that hunger among families with kids has now dropped from 11 percent before the expanded CTC payments to 7.7 percent – last month, that figure was 8.4 percent.
America’s caregivers need a pay raise. Congress can give them one.
Chandra Campos works as a caregiver in San Luis Valley, a picturesque part of south-central Colorado punctuated by the Rio Grande River, whose headwaters lay just north. Caregivers in that part of the state are in short supply – meaning Chandra has lots of work helping clients dress themselves, bathe, and making sure they get enough to eat – the things that enable people to live independently at home instead of in long-term care facilities.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship August 20, 2021
The CTC-and-SNAP-to-the-rescue edition. The Delta variant is spreading rapidly, making up more than 98 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The daily death rate is roughly double what it was at the beginning of August. Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi are seeing their highest daily caseloads since the start of the pandemic. Alabama has run out of ICU beds. “It’s absolutely due to delta; it’s absolutely due to unvaccinated people,” said David Wohl, a specialist in infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina. “There is an incredible increase in hospitalizations across the spectrum, from just needing oxygen and some care to needing serious interventions to keep people alive. If everyone was vaccinated, our hospitals would not be anywhere near where we are.”
The CTC expansion is doing exactly what it was meant to do – and families and children are benefiting
Endia Villar, a working mom in Allen, Texas, with a two-year-old daughter and a baby on the way, was recently asked how she spent the $300 child tax credit deposit she received last month. “Groceries,” she said. “I am pregnant, and I eat like a teenage boy. We needed more food. So it – it worked out perfectly.” Endia is not alone. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse survey, 47 percent of parents receiving the expanded benefit used at least some of the funds on food.
“With Immigrants We Rise:” Advocates wrap up week of national action
In conjunction with the We Are Home campaign, People’s Action and the Coalition on Human Needs this week launched a national week of action to urge Congress to include Dreamers, immigrants who came here fleeing natural disasters or violence in their home countries, and essential workers, including farmworkers, in the Senate’s budget resolution.
Second round of monthly CTC expansion benefits lands today
Today the second round of monthly benefits under the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) began landing in the bank accounts of millions of families with children aged 0 to 17. The Coalition on Human Needs, working with Public News Service, is telling the stories of communities and families that are benefiting from the CTC expansion. Here are three stories that have been produced this past week.