Editor’s note: Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statement Friday, Oct. 5 in opposition to the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court: “On September 7, the Coalition on Human Needs joined with 75 organizations in a letter urging senators…
Archives: Voices
A citizenship question will hurt us all
On September 30, The New York Times published an opinion piece written by William Frey, a demographer, professor, and fellow at the Brookings Institution, about the Trump Administration’s efforts to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. CHN has opposed these efforts from the beginning. We worked with other…
Tax Scam 2.0: Another measure that benefits the wealthy and campaign donors at the expense of working families
Editor’s note: Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statement Friday in response to House passage of a second massive tax cut that mostly benefits the wealthy and will explode the deficit: “The tax scam 2.0 passed today by the House is another measure…
How to Help Rural America: Senate Democrats Hold a Rural Summit
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jon Tester (D-MT) were interviewing author Sarah Smarsh at a Rural Summit held by Senate Democrats on September 27. Ms. Smarsh was describing the isolation she felt growing up poor in rural Kansas. Her mother was 17 when Sarah was born. There was no Family…
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Anti-poverty advocates gathered in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday as House Democrats convened a hearing on poverty in the U.S. The hearing came after the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival this summer called on Congress to convene a bipartisan hearing to focus attention on policies that have…
Fact of the Week: Drop in uninsured rates for low-income rural residents is three times larger in Medicaid expansion states
The uninsured rate for low-income adults has decreased in the last several years across America, thanks in large part to the Affordable Care Act. But small towns and rural areas of states that have expanded Medicaid have seen the sharpest decline in uninsured rates. That’s one of the findings of…
Trump’s Public Charge proposal: A ‘sicker, hungrier, poorer nation’
Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statement Monday in response to the Trump Administration’s proposed Department of Homeland Security Public Charge rule regarding immigrants: “The Trump Administration’s proposed Public Charge rule is the latest in a series of unconscionable attacks on immigrants and…
I know West Virginia kids depend on SNAP. I was one.
Editor’s note: The following op-ed, by Teresa Blake-Allen, appeared in the Sept. 20, 2018 edition of the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Blake-Allen is a school teacher at South Harrison Middle School in Lost Creek, West Virginia. By Teresa Blake-Allen Congress is debating the future of a program that is key to feeding…
Child Poverty Should Be a National Outrage
Editor’s note:This post was written by Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus, Rev. Douglas Greenaway, President and CEO of the National WIC Association, and John Bouman, President of Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. It was previously posted on Medium on September 17. Whether you have children or not, it’s…
Resources from around the Coalition: 2017 Census poverty data
Editor’s note: The following blog post was written by Makenna Whitworth, CHN’s Fall 2018 intern. On Wednesday, September 12 and Thursday, September 13, the U.S. Census Bureau released the latest national, state, and local data about income, poverty, and health insurance. Since then, CHN and its members have been busy assessing…
Hurricane Trump
As Hurricane Florence prepares to make landfall somewhere in the Carolinas, many who live along the Eastern Seaboard are questioning whether federal authorities are prepared to help them weather the disaster. And President Trump doesn’t seem to be helping – neither do reports out this week about alleged corrupt conduct…
Progress in Fighting Poverty Slows — And for the First Time in Years, the Number of Uninsured Americans Does Not Significantly Decline
Editor’s note: CHN on Wednesday, Sept. 12 issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest census and poverty data. For more information, please visit our 2017 Census and Poverty Data Resource Page. After years of progress, the decline in the poverty rate slowed between 2016 and…