A new resource aimed at making sure young children and hard-to-count populations are counted in the 2020 Census is about to be printed, and advocates hope it will help ensure an accurate tally. You may find it a useful part of your efforts to make sure young children are counted in the 2020 Census. WE COUNT! A 2020 Census Counting Book is an engagingly colorful, culturally sensitive 32-page book aimed at both young children and their parents. Its purpose is twofold: it is meant to be read aloud to young children to help them learn to count and, at the same time, it teaches adults to correctly count the members of their households on the 2020 Census form, despite their different living situations.
Archives: Voices
Alabama and the 2020 Census: ‘Whose child is missing?’
About one in four children in Alabama live in poverty, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. More than 17,000 young children in Alabama were not counted in the 2010 Census, which, measured by percentage, was much higher than the national average. About one in three households lacks access to the Internet. And the state is rural – very rural, explains Rhonda Mann, Deputy Director of VOICES for Alabama’s Children, a group that is conducting groundbreaking work to make sure all kids are counted this time around.
CHN: Taking food away from very poor people does not promote work. It simply makes them hungrier.
Taking food away from very poor people does not promote work. It simply compounds their hardships. The Trump Administration today ignored the will of Congress, the judgment of states, more than 100,000 concerned comments, and its own estimate of the harmful impact on close to 700,000 people. It will time-limit food assistance to only three months every three years if people are unable to get steady part-time work.
The New York Council on Children and Families: How State Agencies Can Make Sure Kids Are Counted
How can we make sure that young children are accurately counted in the 2020 Census? One answer is rooted in the work of a small but effective state agency in upstate New York, which is working to ensure that state government plays its part. Among all 50 states, the New York Council on Children and Families is a leader in working with state agencies to promote the 2020 Census and make sure that all kids are counted. Its work could serve as a roadmap for other states to follow as they grapple with coordinating the work of state agencies, local and state nonprofits, and advocates who are working to get the word out about the Census.
Trump Administration Posts 57,000 Public Comments about Shrinking the Poverty Measure Online; Opposition is Overwhelming
More than 50,000 individuals or groups submitted comments via CHN’s website opposing a Trump Administration proposal to shrink the poverty line measure.
Ten Things We’re Thankful for This Thanksgiving
So many people under attack. People who need access to human needs programs just to survive. Immigrants. Workers. Consumers. LGBTQ people and people of color. And the assault on democratic institutions continues unabated. And yet: there are things that those of us in the human needs community can be thankful for as we prepare to observe another Thanksgiving holiday. Here are ten things that come to mind.
In Connecticut, advocates succeed in push for Census funding
When one examines Connecticut state leaders’ efforts to ensure that everyone is counted in the 2020 Census, the phrase “progress, not perfection” comes to mind. “Progress,” because state officials recently announced that $500,000 in state funds would be transferred from five different state agencies to promote the Census. “Not perfection,” because that still isn’t enough money. CT Voices for Children, an advocacy group that is organizing around the 2020 Census, has called for $3.57 million in funding — $1 dollar for each of the 3.57 million residents in the state.
Better than building Trump’s border wall: Five ideas for investing in America’s families
What if we diverted $4.74 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and deportation operations, and another $5 billion for President Trump’s proposed wall at the southern U.S. border, and used this money to invest in families instead? A new two-page research paper published by MomsRising and the National Priorities Project proposes doing just that, and offers up five examples of how this combined $9.74 billion could be invested.
Webinar: Service Providers and the 2020 Census — What You Need to Know. Register now.
Join CHN and our partners for a webinar at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4 to learn what service providers need to know about the 2020 Census. Specifically we will share what’s at stake, what service providers need to be doing between now the Census, and where to get free/easy-to-use resources that can be used to achieve our goals. Hear from leaders of the national Count All Kids Campaign and the Census Counts Campaign as well as a local service provider about what works and what missteps to avoid.
Children Are Losing Access to an Extremely Effective Anti-Poverty Program: Medicaid
The number of uninsured children increased by more than 400,000 to more than four million nationwide between 2016 and 2018, reversing a long-standing positive trend and erasing many of the gains achieved after major provisions of the Affordable Care Act took effect. Behind these numbers are millions of families struggling to make ends meet and get their kids the health care they need to succeed.
America’s foster care system: progress on many fronts, but still overburdened
An annual study of foster care in the United States reveals good news and bad news – and there are newly emerging threats, both at the state and federal level. The good news: for most of the 2010s, federal data showed the number of children in foster care steadily increasing after a previous decade of decline. The reason, in part, was the opioid crisis. Now, however, the number of children in foster care is declining, while the number of homes available to foster youth is on the rise.
The latest CHN Human Needs Report: Budget updates, Medicaid work requirements, low-income tax credits, and more
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on Congress’s work on spending bills, a judge’s ruling on immigration and health care, how Medicaid work requirements fared at the ballot box, efforts to expand low income tax credits, and more.