Archives: Voices

CHN Report: President Trump Attacks Baltimore, and is Trying Hard to Make Things Worse

Residents of the city of Baltimore have now endured days of racist tweets from President Trump attacking their popular congressman, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), and their city, which Trump called a “rodent-infested mess” where “no human being would want to live.” CHN this week released an analysis detailing just what effect the Trump Administration is having (or will have, if it has its way) on Baltimore as well as other urban areas in the U.S. We examined a number of areas: housing, wages, nutrition assistance, education, health care, infrastructure, and consumer protections across a number of areas, including racial discrimination in housing, the home mortgage market, predatory and discriminatory lending, and fraudulent student loan practices.

‘Kids Count’ report shows improved child well-being in U.S. – but barriers remain

The latest edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book is out, and for America’s 74 million children, the news is both good and bad. The good news is that the annual report found, broadly speaking, that children in the U.S. had a better chance of thriving in 2017 than in 1990, with improvement in 11 of the 16 KIDS COUNT index measures of child well-being. The bad news is that racial and ethnic disparities persisted; the U.S. has failed to tear down barriers affecting children of color; and there’s been virtually no progress on child poverty since the publication of the first Data Book in 1990.

Lessons for Healing Our Divided Society: A Conversation with Alan Curtis

In 1968 the Kerner Commission concluded that “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” The commission had been established by President Lyndon Johnson to explore the origins of the 1967 race riots. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication, the Eisenhower Foundation, the private sector continuation of the original Commission, released an update of the report entitled “Healing Our Divided Society.”

Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream in Crisis?

“The American Dream.” Americans hold this phrase close to heart. People come from other areas of the world hoping to experience it firsthand. Yet at the same time, an increasing number of people seem to share in the belief that it is an unattainable myth.

CHN applauds passage of minimum wage increase: ‘Today is not the end of this fight. But perhaps it is the beginning of the end.’

CHN this week applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for its vote to increase the minimum wage. We know that $15 an hour is the absolute minimum workers need nationwide in order to survive. Lifting low-income workers is the right and moral thing to do, pure and simple, and the Senate should take up the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, H.R. 582, for its consideration.

Trump administration plan to change how inflation is measured concerns advocates for poor

The Trump administration is weighing a plan that uses a different definition of inflation to determine who lives in poverty and who does not. If implemented, the measure would affect people’s eligibility for food stamps, Head Start, school lunch programs, parts of Medicaid and Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and other federal programs.

Save the date! National Call-in Day Monday, July 22. Tell your senators: No cuts. No government shutdown.

Once again, the Trump Administration and Congress are headed towards the brink. In September, services we need may come to a screeching halt unless new funding levels and the federal government’s authority to borrow are renewed. Since Congress will be leaving for August recess in a few weeks, these vital funding conversations are happening this week! Congress must act soon to agree on spending levels and to raise the limits on federal borrowing (the “debt ceiling”). And the time to speak out is NOW! On Monday, July 22nd, please join in a National Call-in Day.

CHN protests planned mass arrests of immigrants: ‘So much is at stake here’

The Trump Administration reportedly plans to carry out mass arrests to speed deportations of thousands of immigrants over the coming days. After shocking the conscience of the nation as we witnessed the grievous and continuing harm to children separated from their parents, the Trump Administration is apparently intent on recklessly tearing more parents from children.

Inside Mexico’s deteriorating migrant facilities: ‘Three days in total darkness’

Much has been written – although perhaps not nearly enough – about the cruel, decrepit, and even dangerous conditions inside migrant detention camps along the southern U.S. border. Now, however, details are emerging about conditions in migrant camps on the other side of the border – conditions exacerbated by the Trump Administration’s immigration policies. And it is a disturbing picture.

Hunger doesn’t take a vacation

It is summer time for schoolchildren, and the living is easy – unless you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. A new report released Wednesday by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) found that far too many children across the country are missing out on the nutrition they need when the regular school year ends, and with it, the National School Lunch Program and a sister program that serves breakfasts.

HUD proposal puts tens of thousands of families at risk; comment period ends Tuesday

The Trump Administration wants to rip apart tens of thousands of families. Through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), it has proposed prohibiting mixed-status families from receiving housing assistance. Mixed-status families are families that include both members who are eligible and ineligible for housing assistance based on their immigration status.