CHN today released its latest edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on Congress’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, work on FY21 spending bills, a delay in the 2020 Census operations, and more.
Archives: Voices
In the age of COVID-19, don’t forget our incarcerated youth
The last few weeks have seen COVID-19 outbreaks in multiple juvenile detention facilities throughout the country. The largest of these outbreaks has been in Virginia’s Bon Air juvenile detention facility where a quarter of all the cases reported at youth facilities nationwide have occurred. This outbreak was predicted by advocates concerned with the welfare of those in juvenile detention and could have been prevented.
Front-line workers demand COVID-19 aid for beleaguered local, state governments
This week, AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, a CHN member organization, is calling on Congress to pass a robust aid package for state and local governments in the next round of COVID-19 relief legislation. A new analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities underscores the urgency of this request: over three years, the shortfall in state government revenue alone will be $650 billion, not counting losses to local governments.
Coronavirus and the elderly: Stories of hopelessness, solitude, isolation, and despair
When we at CHN asked our online supporters to share their stories about the coronavirus pandemic, we heard from a number of elderly people with a wide range of concerns. Some expressed a sense of hopelessness, solitude, isolation, and despair. Others feared that if they get sick, they will not be treated and will instead be sacrificed for younger patients who are deemed more likely to survive. Others still worry about an ongoing lack of testing and whether the resources will exist for them to be able to access treatment.
‘We need an army to do this.’ Experts say contact tracing may disrupt COVID-19’s spread
What is contact tracing and how can it be used to interrupt COVID-19’s deadly path around the world? Imagine going about your daily life with bright red paint on your hands. Everything and everyone you come into contact with is affected. If you brush against someone in the supermarket, they might get a little bit of paint on themselves. They might bring it home to their own family, who could then spread it even further. Contact tracing has the potential to interrupt COVID-19’s chain of transmission by identifying those who are infected, and then locating and notifying their recent contacts.
CHN’s Deborah Weinstein: Congress takes some needed steps — but a fearful nation needs more.
The latest COVID-19 legislative package should keep some workers in jobs and keep some businesses from folding. The funds for health care providers and for testing are needed. But this is far from all that is required to get millions of unemployed workers, retirees, and families out of the disastrous economic situation we’re in. Congress must continue its work via three essential routes: ensuring everyone can get medical treatment and protection against the coronavirus; supporting the incomes of millions of struggling people; and shoring up the state and local institutions of government that are needed to continue the services we depend upon.
Coronavirus and the 2020 Census: Revisiting the “Best Laid Plans”
Across the country, in every state and U.S. territory, literally thousands and thousands of community events were planned this spring as part of a massive effort – sometimes coordinated, sometimes not – to ensure an accurate count of young children in the 2020 Census. Then the coronavirus pandemic happened. So child advocates, hoping to avoid the massive undercount of young children that occurred ten years ago, have had to adeptly shift to adjust strategies. Here’s a snapshot of how advocates in Alabama, Indiana, Nevada, New York, and Oklahoma are quickly pivoting.
Nearly 400 groups tell Congress: Invest in robust spending to improve Americans’ lives
Nearly 400 groups, including the Coalition on Human Needs, this week urged leading appropriators in Congress to allocate a greater share of funds in fiscal year 2021 to programs controlled by the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Even as Congress grapples with special funding to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, it remains necessary to support the basic programs that protect health and provide the tools for economic recovery.
Coronavirus and immigrant detainees: ‘All locations in this jail are communal’
Across the United States, advocates like Never Again Action and Amnesty International are urging for the immediate release of 38,000 detained immigrants in order to protect them from COVID-19. Numerous detention facilities are holding children for more than 200 days, 10 times what is allowed under a long-standing settlement agreement. Children are spending their first birthdays, speaking their first words, and taking their first steps detained in petri dishes
Counting All Kids Amid COVID-19: How Early Education Advocates Are Supporting the Census
In late February, a panel of experts at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Public Policy Forum highlighted the tremendous efforts underway to ensure that all children and babies are counted in the 2020 Census. Across the country, early childhood educators were preparing to engage families in conversations about the importance of being counted and teach students about the decennial tradition. Providers and directors were setting up stations at the entrance of facilities for parents to complete the census before dropping off or picking up children. Advocates were planning census parties, printing flyers, designing census onesies and bibs, and more. Then, the COVID-19 crisis hit.
CHN calls for reopening comment period on Trump Administration poverty proposal; says any change to current measurement must be based on science and careful analysis
CHN this week asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to extend or reopen the comment period on a Trump Administration proposal to change the way poverty is measured, and emphasized that any change should be based on scientific research and careful analysis of how vulnerable Americans would be affected. In a letter written and submitted by CHN Executive Director Deborah Weinstein, CHN emphasized that the comment period should be extended or reopened till at least one month after the conclusion of the current state of emergency relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
What the U.S. can learn from the Norwegian “Dugnad”
March 16th, I arrived safely at home in Norway after my internship in Washington, D.C. was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic. As soon as I arrived at home in Norway I could see and feel clearly that the Norwegian government was taking the situation seriously. Every press briefing treated the COVID-19 virus with the solemn attitude that such a serious situation demands. From the beginning of March, the Norwegian government initiated the strongest measures that the country has experienced since World War II. It was a stark contrast to leaving a country where the leader had continuously downplayed the severity of the situation.