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Child Poverty Action Needed in This Year’s Budget: Letter to NYS Legislators

Child Poverty Action Needed in This Year’s Budget: Letter to NYS Legislators

by | Mar 7, 2023 | Child Poverty, Legislative, News

More than 80 organizations have signed the letter below, which was sent to the full NYS Legislature (PDF version available here). The letter articulates key budget actions to begin to cutting child poverty. In 2021, New York passed the Child Poverty Reduction Act, committing the State to reducing child poverty by 50% over the next decade. On Tuesday, March 7, New York’s Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council will assess the Executive Budget’s impacts on child poverty; the livestream and recording will be on the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance website. 

——-
March 6, 2023

Dear Legislator:

The 2023-24 State Budget provides an opportunity to change New York’s trajectory on child poverty. Child poverty in New York State continues to exceed the national rate, as it has for more than a decade. But it’s not hopeless: there are budget and policy solutions that can be implemented this year.

In 2021-22, the Legislature passed and New York enacted landmark legislation, the New York State Child Poverty Reduction Act, committing New York State to cutting child poverty in half in a decade. The Act had near-unanimous, bipartisan support from upstate, downstate, rural, urban, and suburban legislators and constituents. New York must take meaningful steps this year to make good on its promise.

One of the key learnings of the last three years is that government policy can make a real and immediate difference for people struggling to make ends meet. Pandemic-era supports confirmed that it is possible to quickly and sharply cut child poverty and boost family economic security. The most dramatic example was the temporary pandemic expansion of the Federal Child Tax Credit in 2021, which contributed to a 46% decline in child poverty nationwide.

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty identifies several evidence-informed policies that can move the needle on child poverty, noting that there is not one single policy solution, but a combination of policies that, taken together, can turn the tide on child poverty.

With that in mind, there are critical, evidence-informed actions that can be taken in this year’s Budget that will immediately assist New York’s children and families:

  1. Deliver tax relief to children in low-income families by strengthening refundable tax credits. Specifically,
    • add a robust credit for children under age four, currently excluded from New York’s Empire State Child Credit (ESCC) (S.771/A.2464 and S.4952/A.3911);
    • ensure the full credit goes to the lowest-income families, by ending regressive minimum income requirements and phase-ins (S.771/A.2464);
    • increase the credit amount to provide families meaningful support (S.771/A.2464 and S.4952/A.3911); and
    • make the Earned Income Tax Credit EITC available to immigrant tax filers.

The Working Families Tax Credit (S.2077/A.4022) would accomplish all of these. The Governor’s Budget proposes nothing for the ESCC or EITC, though it does propose tax expenditures in other areas.

2. Increase New York’s minimum wage and adjust it each year to keep up with rising costs (S.1978-A/A.2204-A). The failure of the minimum wage to keep up with rising costs of living contributes to economic insecurity for families. Increased household income is associated with improved birth outcomes and reduced infant mortality and fewer child maltreatment reports. In 2020, there were 630,000 New York children living in a household with someone earning less than $15 per hour. More than a quarter of affected workers are parents (27.9%) and almost half of those are single parents (47.9%) who will see their earnings increase from the higher minimum wage. The Raise the Wage Act (S.1978-A/A.2204-A), would raise the minimum wage to $21.25 in NYC, Westchester, and LI and $20 upstate by 2026. In 2027, upstate would reach parity with the rest of the state, as the minimum wage would automatically increase each year. The Act would give 2.9 million workers an average raise of $63 per week, and could greatly reduce child poverty across New York State. The Governor’s budget proposes automatic increases to the minimum wage, once it reaches $15/hour under existing law, with caps on the increases, delivering a raise of about $13 per week for the average affected worker.

3. Keep children and families housed by establishing the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) (S.568-A/A.4021), a state-level voucher program to provide housing stability to New York families at risk of homelessness. Housing in New York costs more than twice the national average and nearly one-third of households with children were behind on rent in November 2022. Voucher programs have been shown to lower rent burdens, prevent eviction, and reduce the risk of homelessness. Notably, children who grow up in households with vouchers have increased earnings in their 20s and lower incarceration rates. Stable housing is foundational to children’s well-being. A $250 million investment would serve 13,760 households, including nearly 4,000 families with children. The Governor’s budget does not include a Housing Access Voucher Program.

4. Establish and fund statewide, permanent Healthy School Meals for All to ensure all students receive a healthy school breakfast and lunch at no cost each school day. Nearly 600,000 children in New York State lack the food they need, and additional federal food assistance is slated to end in March 2023. Providing free meals for all students—regardless of income—is a proven strategy to reduce food insecurity, improve mental and physical health, support students’ ability to thrive academically, and bolster equity. With an investment of $200 million, more than 726,000 children will eat healthy meals at school, cost-free. The Governor’s budget did not propose funding for free school meals.


The New York State Comptroller’s recent report on poverty in our state is a sobering reminder that for too long, New York has allowed millions of New Yorkers, among them hundreds of thousands of children, to experience the hardships of poverty—at a much higher rate than our neighboring states and the nation as a whole. Child poverty has lasting impacts on our children, families, and communities, and disproportionately harms young children, Black and Latinx children, and children in immigrant families. Columbia University researchers estimate child poverty costs New York more than $60 billion per year. The Child Poverty Reduction Act and Advisory Council have built a strong foundation for New York to significantly reduce child poverty in our state.

By taking the concrete steps outlined above in this year’s budget, the Legislature can build on that foundation and immediately bolster family economic security, child well-being, and racial equity throughout New York State.

Sincerely,

Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy

Advocate for Westchester Youth

ALIGN: The Alliance for a Greater New York

Alliance for Quality Education

American Academy of Pediatrics, NYS

Candace Cabral, Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council Member

Cattaraugus Community Action, Inc.

Center for NYC Affairs, The New School

Chautauqua Opportunities Inc.

Children’s Defense Fund

Children’s Health Fund

Children’s Village

Chilis on Wheels

Church Women United in New York State

Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH)

Citizens’ Committee for Children

City of Peekskill Youth Bureau

Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School

Community Food Advocates

Community Health Care Association of New York State

Community Service Society

CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Early Care & Learning Council

Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, Inc.

Equipping Saints to Serve Ministries

Equity Advocates

Expecting Relief

Families Together in New York State

Feeding New York State

Feeding Westchester

Finger Lakes Performing Provider System

Foodlink

For the Many

FPWA

Free the People WNY

God’s Love We Deliver

Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce

Greenburgh Eleven UFSD

Health and Welfare Council of Long Island

Healthi Kids Coalition

Hope’s Door

Hunger Solutions New York

JCEO

Mohawk Valley Community Action Agency, Inc.

National Employment Law Project

New York Communities for Change

New York Immigration Coalition

New York State Community Action Association

Newburgh Urban Farm and Food Initiative

Northeast NY Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health

Northern Rivers

Partnership for the Public Good

Poppy Muse, Inc.

Prevent Child Abuse NY

Robin Hood

Rochester Housing Authority

Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI)

Rural Health Network of SCNY, Inc.

Schenectady Community Action Program

Sister to Sister International

Strong Economy for All Coalition

The Bridge Project

The Children’s Agenda

The Education Trust New York

The Legal Aid Society

The New York State CASA Association, Inc.

The STEM Alliance

Tompkins County Workers’ Center

United Community Center of Westchester, Inc.

United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes

United Way of the Greater Capital Region

United Way of Westchester and Putnam

University of Rochester Department of Pediatrics

Urban Outreach Center

Vegan Activist Alliance

Wellness in the Schools

Westchester Children’s Association

Westchester Library System

Westchester Women’s Agenda

WNY Women’s Foundation

Worker Justice Center of New York

Wyoming County Community Action

Youth Shelter Program of Westchester

YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester

New Resource: Policy Guide for Legislators

New Resource: Policy Guide for Legislators

by | Jan 30, 2023 | Child Care, Child Poverty, Child Welfare, General, Legislative, News, Resources

Schuyler Center’s newly-released 2023 Policy Guide for Child and Family Well-Being outlines policy priorities, resources, and Schuyler Center’s availability as a partner in policymaking. The Policy Guide is a valuable resource for our partners working on policy and legislation.

The Policy Guide includes:

  • An overview of The Schuyler Center;
  • Policy Priorities for Centering Child Well-Being in NYS;
  • A summary of the resources we make available to support policymaking;
  • A directory of Our Team of Policy Experts, including the issue areas on which each team member focuses.

View and download the 2023 Policy Guide for Child and Family Well-Being.

2023 State of New York’s Children Data Book and Briefing

2023 State of New York’s Children Data Book and Briefing

by | Jan 20, 2023 | Child Care, Child Poverty, Child Welfare, Health, News, SONYC

Child poverty in New York State continues to exceed the national rate, as it has for more than a decade.  
 
This week, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy released The State of New York’s Children 2023 Data Book. Key data points for child poverty, child care, child welfare are outlined below.

On Wednesday, a briefing was held to present the findings as well as policy recommendations for supporting New York’s children, especially those impacted by poverty.  [View slides from the briefing.] 

One of the key learnings of the last three years is that government policy can make a real and immediate difference in the lives of children and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Three years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we now have the data to show that thoughtful policies, with adequate funding for implementation, can be powerful tools to build a stronger and more equitable state and country. Those policies include tax credits, food assistance, child care supports, and expanded health coverage. 

Entering 2023, New York State is at a pivotal moment: armed with compelling data about the policies that meaningfully improved the well-being of New York’s children, what actions will our state leaders take?  

“Healthy children and supported families are the foundation of a thriving society—these are the investments that pay off for everyone, now and for generations to come,” said Kate Breslin, Schuyler Center President and CEO. “Our recommendations are rooted in data, and we have more evidence than ever that the right public policies can drastically cut poverty rates in our State and our country.” 

 
Among the key data points in the 2023 State of New York’s Children Report:    

Child Poverty in NYS:  

  • New York’s children are more likely to experience poverty than children in the U.S. as a whole: Child poverty in New York State continues to exceed the national rate, as it has for more than a decade.   
  • In 2021, approximately 747,000 New York children, nearly 20%, experienced poverty.  
  • Black and Hispanic children experience poverty at much higher rates, due to structural, historic, and ongoing racism in housing, employment, education, policing, and other systems.   
  • State and federal income and food supports have long protected hundreds of thousands of New York children from experiencing the sharpest impacts of poverty— especially during the pandemic when federal supports were dramatically expanded  
  • With pandemic enhanced supports ending, the number of children experiencing poverty and economic hardship is on the rise. 
     

Policy recommendations for child poverty reduction:  

New York State must move toward achieving codified commitment of cutting child poverty by 50% in a decade, with attention to reducing racial inequities.  
 
Priority actions for 2023 include:  
 
1. The Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council should immediately identify and advance budget strategies to significantly cut child poverty this year and measure the Executive and Enacted Budgets regarding their impact toward New York’s commitment to cut child poverty and reduce racial inequities. 
 
2. Strengthen New York’s child tax creditby (a) securing a robust credit for children under age four (a group currently excluded altogether from New York’s credit); (b) restructuring the credit so the highest credit goes to the lowest income families—by ending the state’s regressive minimum income requirement and phase-in; (c) increasing the credit amount to provide families meaningful support; and (d) ensuring the credit continues to be available to as many immigrant families as possible. 

 
Child Care access:   

  • Last year’s increase in income eligibility for child care assistance has made more than 250,000 New York children newly eligible for child care assistance; a potentially life-changing support for these children and families.  However, even if a family can afford child care – on its own, or with assistance – finding child care in many communities is a challenge that is growing.  Licensed child care capacity in New York State has sharply declined since 2019, particularly in the home-based sector which serves a proportionately high percentage of families receiving child care assistance.  
  • New York’s early childhood educators, 96% of whom are women and 56% who identify as people of color, are paid such low wages they live in poverty at more than twice the rate of New York workers in general. Many cannot afford to remain in the field. New York’s child care workforce is down by 8% compared to the fall of 2019.    


Policy recommendations for improving child care access: 

Continue to make substantial and concrete progress toward achieving high-quality, culturally-responsive, universal child care.  
 
Priority actions for New York State in 2023 include: 
 
1. Establish a Quality Child Care Workforce Compensation Program.  

2. Continue to incrementally expand access to high-quality child care to more families, prioritizing low-income families; families from historically underserved communities, and families facing complex needs. 

3. Ensure the New York State Child Care Availability Task Force is convened and acts quickly and boldly to develop and implement a plan for Universal Child Care in the state. 

 
The Child Welfare system:  

  • New York’s child welfare system currently operates in ways that disproportionately involve, investigate, and separate Black and Latino children and families. Specifically, Black children are nearly twice as likely as white children to be reported to the State Central Register (SCR); more than twice as likely to be in indicated reports; and over five times more likely to be placed in the child welfare system.   
  • Most children who are separated from their families and placed in the child welfare system are removed from their homes without receiving preventive services.  


Policy Recommendations for transforming child welfare: 

Transform the Child Welfare System by investing in family strengthening, prevention of system-involvement, reducing institutional placements, and transparency and accountability of the system.  

In 2023 it is imperative that New York:  
 
1. Invest in community-based primary prevention services. Primary prevention services address basic economic, health, housing, child care, education, and social needs, and do not require a family to be involved in the child welfare system to gain access.  

2. Increase New York State’s portion of funding for child welfare preventive services from 62% to 75%.  

3. Reduce the number of children in institutional placements, including emergency placements, and expedite reunification.  

4. Collect, publicly report, analyze, and take action to address systemic complaints in the child welfare system.  

For further details on these policy recommendations, view Schuyler Center’s  2023-24 Policy Priorities for Child and Family Well-Being  
  

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Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy (SCAA) is a leading statewide, nonpartisan, policy analysis and advocacy organization based in Albany. SCAA works to shape policies to improve health, welfare, and human services for all New Yorkers, especially children and families impacted by poverty and inequitable systems. Learn more at www.scaany.org  

Child Poverty Action Needed in This Year’s Budget: Letter to NYS Legislators

Acting to Cut Child Poverty: The NYS Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council

by | Jan 11, 2023 | Child Poverty, Legislative, News

In 2021, the New York State Legislature passed and the Governor signed the Child Poverty Reduction Act, committing the State to reduce child poverty by 50% over 11 years. The Act became effective on February 24, 2022. Among the expectations of the law is the seating of a Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council, which held its first meeting in October 2022. The Council will meet again on January 12, 2023 – the livestream, materials, and recording will be posted here.

Codifying a goal of reducing child poverty by 50%, the Child Poverty Reduction Act directs the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council to:

  • Submit to the Chairs of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees, a report analyzing proposals contained within the Executive budget that are expected by the Advisory Council to impact the child poverty rate. This is expected no later than ten days after the Governor offers amendments to the Executive Budget.
  • Develop and publish a timeline, inclusive of yearly benchmarks, for reducing child poverty in the state by fifty percent in ten years. The timeline shall be made publicly available.
  • Deliver to the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly and the Temporary president of the Senate, reports containing the timeline, the review of the policy proposals, the investigation of the effects of such policies, and the review of agency programs on or before eighteen months from the effective date of this section.
  • Conduct formal public hearings, which shall take place in at least four regions of the state, as defined by the Empire State Development Corporation, and be offered during non-traditional hours to allow for persons unable to normally testify due to work requirements to so testify.
  • Consider policy proposals that include, but are not limited to: expanding and strengthening the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit to align with the state’s minimum wage, cover individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) filers and young, childless adults, and to be paid out quarterly; expanding and strengthening the state’s child tax credit to include young children and eliminate the minimum income threshold; expanding work training and employment programs; expanding access to subsidized housing; and expanding access to subsidized child care.
  • Investigate the effects that each of the proposals listed above may have if enacted by itself, as well as the effect the proposals may have if enacted in conjunction with the other proposals including related changes to federal policies.
  • Release a report outlining effects the enactment of such proposals may have on child poverty.
  • Consider the disproportionate impact poverty may have on various racial and ethnic communities and what policies may assist in alleviating such disparities; ways to improve access to public benefits for individuals regardless of their immigration status; policies that assist families to obtain and maintain financial stability, including policies that assist individuals with educational advancement and securing employment that provides a living wage; any other factors that may impact a family, parent, or child’s ability to stay above the poverty level, including, but not limited to: (1) stability and predictability of income; (2) equitable and ready access to programs; (3) equitable treatment across racial, immigration, and ethnic groups; (4) positive environmental conditions; (5) the individual health and well-being of parents and children; and (6) the cost to the state, including the short-term costs of the programs and the long-term savings from having such programs in place.
  • Deliver to the Governor, the Speaker of the Assembly and the Temporary President of the Senate the recommendations of the Advisory Council on or before two years after the effective date of this section.
  • Release annual reports, starting September 2023, detailing the progress that the state has made in reducing the child poverty rate in line with the recommendations set forth in this subdivision.
  • Collaborate with experts in the field of poverty research, utilize available data from other relevant statewide studies of poverty, and solicit input from stakeholder interests including, but not limited to persons impacted by poverty, non-profit organizations that assist those living in poverty, individuals or organizations that work to end racial disparities in New York, and child poverty advocacy organizations.

View a PDF of the directives outlined above.

UPDATED: View a recording of the Jan. 12 meeting and meeting materials.

Schuyler Conversations: Childhood Oral Health Policy

Schuyler Conversations: Childhood Oral Health Policy

by | Dec 20, 2022 | Health, News

Good oral health helps children perform well in school and lead healthy lives. Although dental disease is largely preventable, access to oral health care is often overlooked in policy discussions about child health. Schuyler Center has been leading efforts to bring focus to prevention initiatives and expand access to services. 

On December 19, Schuyler Center’s Bridget Walsh hosted a virtual conversation with Anthony J. Mendicino Jr, DDS, Dental Director, Finger Lakes Community Health and Dionne Richardson, DDS MPH, State Dental Director at New York State Department of Health. The discussion focused on the NYS Department of Health’s approach to improving children’s oral health and innovative approaches to providing services to families. 

View a recording of the conversation here or below.


Previous Schuyler Conversations and webinars:

Statement: Schuyler Center Congratulates Governor Hochul

Statement: Schuyler Center Congratulates Governor Hochul

by | Nov 10, 2022 | Legislative, News

Schuyler Center Congratulates Governor Hochul, Stands Ready to Work Toward the Well-Being of ALL New York’s Children

Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy extends our congratulations to Governor Hochul, the first woman elected Governor of New York State.

Throughout her career, Governor Hochul has expressed her commitment to children and families, and we look forward to continued partnership on priorities such as implementing statewide universal child care, reducing child poverty in New York State, and investing in child and family well-being.  

As steadfast advocates for children and families, especially those impacted by poverty, we stand ready to work with Governor Hochul to build a New York State in which every child – regardless of their zip code or their family’s income – has the opportunity to thrive.

Read more about Schuyler Center’s 2023 Policy Priorities for Child and Family Well-Being.