Policy Discussion Series: Addressing Child Poverty

Policy Discussion Series: Addressing Child Poverty

This series of virtual and in-person policy discussions kicked off in June 2023, and examines the intersections of child poverty reduction and other policy areas, including health, early childhood policy, and immigration. Panelists have included policy experts, pediatricians, parent advocates, NYS agency leaders, youth partners, and others invested in ending child poverty in New York State.

Recordings of each policy discussion can be found here.  

Learn more: New York Can End Child Poverty.

Centering Children in the New York State Budget – January 2024 webinar

January 12, 2024 at noon

As Albany gears up for the 2024 New York State legislative session, this insider conversation looks at what we expect (and hope!) to see in this year’s state budget and the investments needed to make New York State a place where families can afford to live, grow, and thrive.

In this webinar, Schuyler Center’s Kate Breslin and Dede Hill discuss budget priorities for New York’s children and families, answer questions, and share resources as we kick off 2024.

View the recording here.

The Power of Guaranteed Income Programs – December 2023 webinar

There are several guaranteed income pilot programs across the state and country. These programs provide a basic income to participants, with no work requirement. During this webinar, panelists discussed lessons learned from these pilot programs, the experience as a participant, and how this type of policy can combat child poverty. View the webinar recording.

Panelists:

View the webinar recording.

View the slides on Guaranteed Income programs presented by Debipriya Chatterjee

Learn more about Guaranteed Income and these programs.

Children in Immigrant Families – October 2023 webinar 

For children in immigrant families, there can be many barriers to services that support well-being. This discussion with immigration and policy experts examined how New York can best support all children, why those investments matter, and opportunities to support the newest New Yorkers.  View the webinar recording.

Panelists:  

View the webinar recording.

 
Early Childhood Foundations – September 2023, in-person event 

This discussion with early childhood experts focused on the intersections of early childhood development and the experience of poverty, as well as the policy interventions that have proven to be effective for families. Held in Albany at The Bull Moose Club, the event brought together advocates, policymakers, community leaders, and state agency leadership. View the recording here. 

panelists discuss child poverty in NYS.

 The discussion was moderated by David Lombardo, host of The Capitol Pressroom, with panelists: 

 View the recording here. 

Child Health and Well-Being – August 2023 webinar 

For families experiencing poverty, there are many barriers to consistent, quality health care. This discussion with leading child health and policy experts focused on how New York supports health for all children, opportunities for improvement, and recommendations for action that addresses health goals within child poverty reduction efforts. View the recording here. 

Panelists: 

View the recording here. 

Learn more about the panelists. 

Progress Update on the Child Poverty Reduction Act – June 2023 webinar 

The first in our discussion series included the co-chair and members of the NYS Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council. The conversation focused on the work the Council has done so far, goals for the coming months, and what lies ahead in pursuit of the Child Poverty Reduction Act goal to reduce the State’s child poverty rate by 50% by 2033. View the recording here. 

Panelists: 

  • Advisory Council co-chair Daniel Tietz, Commissioner of the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance;  
  • Alyson Tarek, Assistant Secretary for Human Services and Mental Hygiene, NYS Executive Chamber; and  
  • Advisory Council member Candace Cabral, Parent Advocate.  
  • Moderated by Advisory Council member Kate Breslin, President and CEO, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy 

 
The Times Union covered the panel and the work of the Advisory Council in an article published on June 29. 

View the recording here. 

Policy Priorities for Child and Family Well-Being

Policy Priorities for Child and Family Well-Being

Download the SCAA 2024 Policy Priorities document here.

In 2024, the Schuyler Center urges leaders to champion policies that improve the health, well-being, and economic security of New York’s families, children, and communities, and that prioritize New Yorkers who
are working hard to make ends meet. New York State must prioritize policies that focus on the more than 730,000 children living in poverty (19% of all New York children), and Black, brown and immigrant New York children and their families. These New Yorkers continue to be among those hardest impacted by the after-effects of the pandemic.

2024 Policy Priorities

(View the details on policies that will achieve each goal here.)

  • Goal 1: Child Poverty Reduction — Reduce child poverty and racial inequity, starting by ensuring tax credits, housing, and nutritional supports reach all families, no matter where they were born.
  • Goal 2: Child Care — Make a substantial and sustained investment in New York’s child care workforce and extend the promise of care to all children in our state.
  • Goal 3: Children’s Health — Expand and increase investment in child and family health.
  • Goal 4: Child Welfare — Transform the child welfare system by investing in policies that foster transparency and accountability, prevent system-involvement and unnecessary, harmful family separations, reduce institutional placements, and support child, family, and community wellbeing.

Details on reaching each of the above goals can be found in the full 2024 Policy Priorities document.

Statement from Kate Breslin, Schuyler Center President and CEO, on the  2023-24 Enacted New York State Budget 

Statement from Kate Breslin, Schuyler Center President and CEO, on the  2023-24 Enacted New York State Budget 

Register to attend Schuyler Center’s budget overview webinar on 5/8.

In Governor Hochul’s State of the State address, she outlined a New York Dream that is accessible to everyone. For children and families who are experiencing poverty, this year’s state budget cracks open the door to that dream just a little wider.

This year’s budget is a story of partial solutions in place of bold and transformative policy. Through the unified power of child poverty fighters and the tenacity of legislative champions, this year’s state budget includes an expansion of the Empire State Child Tax Credit to include babies and toddlers under age four. This means that the child tax credit will reach an additional 600,000 to 900,000 children statewide. We celebrate this expansion; it has been a very long time coming!

For real poverty fighting impact, we will continue to advocate to 1.) remove the child tax credit’s phase-in that limits the credit amount provided to the lowest income families, and 2.) increase the credit amount from the current maximum of just $330 per year and build in a mechanism to keep up with rising costs.  [Schuyler Center Statement on Child Tax Credit Expansion in the NYS Budget]

We’re encouraged that this year’s State budget includes a historic update to the child welfare housing subsidy. Starting next year, the child welfare housing subsidy will increase from $300 a month to $725 a month, a long overdue update to a subsidy that has not been increased since it was established in 1988. This subsidy is a lifeline to families involved in the system and youth aging out of foster care, seeking a life of safety and independence.  [Child and Family Advocates’ Statement on the 2023-24 New York State Budget: Historic update to the child welfare housing subsidy]

The budget also includes notable investments in child care. These are measures that will make a tangible difference in the lives of children and families, including expanding access to child care by extending eligibility for assistance to pay for child care to families earning up to 85% of the state median income ($93,258 for a family of four), capping copays, an online application, and the elimination of some administrative barriers that prevent families from receiving the help they need. The budget also contains a small pilot program to help the families of children who are currently excluded from child care assistance due to their immigration status.  [Empire State Campaign for Childcare Response to 23-24 Budget]

While each of these actions represents progress, we still have a long way to go. The door to the New York dream should be wide open for every New Yorker, regardless of zip code or income or race. Schuyler Center will continue advocating for the bold policy solutions that New York’s children and families need, especially those experiencing poverty, inequity, and systemic racism. [Schuyler Center End of Session Policy Priorities 2023]

Register to attend Schuyler Center’s budget overview webinar on 5/8.

Additional 2023-24 Budget Statements:

Schuyler Center End of Session Policy Priorities 2023 

All resources on Schuyler Center’s policy priorities.

Policy Priorities for Child and Family Well-Being

Statement on Child Tax Credit Expansion in the NYS Budget 

First steps achieved toward a robust and inclusive child tax credit, with more to be done 

As advocates for policies that aim to end the experience of child poverty and support New York’s children and families, Schuyler Center is pleased that this year’s state budget includes an expansion of the Empire State Child Tax Credit to include babies and toddlers ages 0-3. Starting next year, the child tax credit will reach an additional 900,000 children statewide. It will be the first time since the credit was created in 2006 that children under 4 years old are included in the state child tax credit. 

By expanding the credit to include the youngest New Yorkers, our leaders have strengthened an important tool in reducing child poverty. Schuyler Center has long fought for this expansion, and we commend Governor Hochul and Legislative leaders for taking the first step toward a more inclusive child tax credit.  

The Path to a More Impactful Child Tax Credit 

While we are thrilled by budget action to include children under 4 in New York’s child tax credit, this year’s state budget did not include an additional, equally important expansion. To make New York’s child tax credit as inclusive as possible, leaders must also remove the phase-in that limits the credit amount provided to the lowest income families.  

Currently, children in families earning the lowest incomes receive only a partial credit because their household is in the phase-in (i.e. they earn too little). These are the children who would benefit most from this credit. A family making $7,000 shouldn’t receive a smaller credit than one making $70,000.  

In addition, for real poverty fighting impact, the credit amount must be increased from the current maximum of $330 per year and built to keep up with rising costs.  

We will continue advocating for these additional improvements. Combined, these actions will help realize the powerful poverty-fighting potential of NY’s child tax credit. 

We urge Governor Hochul and Legislative leaders to finish fixing the flaws. With these improvements, the Empire State Child Credit can be an essential tool in achieving New York’s goal of reducing child poverty by 50% within the next decade.  

Schuyler Center and our many partners in the fight to end child poverty in New York State would like to thank Senator Gounardes, Assemblymember Hevesi, Senator Cooney, and the leadership in both houses of the legislature for championing these actions as well as the Working Families Tax Credit. If enacted, the Working Families Tax Credit will move New York significantly closer to meeting its statutory commitment of cutting child poverty by 50% by 2032.   

 Post-Budget Actions 

For the remaining weeks of this Legislative Session, Schuyler Center will continue to advocate for policies that center New York’s children and families, especially those experiencing poverty. View Schuyler Center’s End of Session Legislative Priorities here.  

Download the PDF of this statement.
 

Next Look: How Do the Assembly and Senate Budget Proposals Support NY’s Children and Families? 

Next Look: How Do the Assembly and Senate Budget Proposals Support NY’s Children and Families? 

Schuyler Center’s Next Look  is an initial and targeted assessment of how the New York Senate and Assembly 2023-24 One-House Budget proposals would address some of the issues most critical to the health and well-being of low-income families and children, and all New Yorkers living on the margins. Chief among these issues is child and family poverty. View Next Look.

Highlighted in the assessment are State budget actions that hold real opportunity to concretely improve the lives of New York children, families, and marginalized New Yorkers. Schuyler Center’s team is continuing to analyze these proposals more closely and is working with our partners to ensure that the enacted NYS budget seizes these opportunities to set up all New Yorkers to thrive.  

Next Look includes Budget proposals in the areas of Child Welfare; Refundable Tax Credits (excerpted below); Minimum Wage; Housing Voucher Program; Universal School Meals; Public Assistance; Child Care; Pre-K, Afterschool, and Home Visiting; Public Health, Health Coverage, Access and Care.

Why Schuyler Center Focuses on Children and Families Impacted by Poverty

Why Schuyler Center Focuses on Children and Families Impacted by Poverty

from ‘Schuyler Center 150th Anniversary Magazine’

The foundational principle of Louisa Lee Schuyler’s work was that democracy could, and must, be made to work in those areas appropriate to it.

When Louisa founded SCAA in 1872, she focused her efforts on organizing and bringing a voice to communities and their disenfranchised members in order to inform and influence government policy, believing government must be made to function well for all.

We do the same today. Schuyler Center effectively shares data and advocates for evidence-based approaches and policies that center the most disadvantaged New Yorkers.

We focus on families and children living in poverty because we must — for many reasons, including:

• Hundreds of thousands of New York’s children live in families below 100% of the federal poverty level and when children in low-income families just above poverty are included, the number exceeds a million children;

• The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that poverty and other adverse social determinants have a detrimental effect on child health and are root causes of child health inequities;

• Poverty and racial inequities are inextricably linked, with children of color experiencing poverty and near poverty at nearly twice the rate of white children and existing systems perpetuate this;

• Poverty and child welfare are linked, with children living in lower income families at higher risk of experiencing childhood traumas, which are correlated with health and socio-economic problems as adults;

• Poverty among young adults is climbing and now sits at nearly 20%;

• Poverty contributes to negative outcomes for children, including disparities in school-readiness and continued lags in learning.

Our state and country were founded on principles of equality. We have a long way to go.

And we won’t stop.

Visit the Policy Priorities page to learn more about our data analysis and advocacy.

story from: Schuyler Center 150th Anniversary Magazine