154 years ago this month, Louisa Lee Schuyler looked at what was happening to the poorest people across New York and decided it wasn’t good enough. She didn’t have a staff or a budget or a policy agenda. She had a conviction that human beings deserved better, and that the people with the knowledge and the will to fight for them had an obligation to do so. That conviction became her mission, and it remains Schuyler Center’s work today. As we mark our anniversary this month, I find myself thinking about how much that original impulse still drives everything we do: the research, the testimony, the coalition meetings, the days spent in the halls of the Capitol, or traveling across the state to learn about how policy impacts communities. We do this work because New York State should be a place where every person can thrive, starting from the very beginning of life, and because we know that with the right policies, it is genuinely possible.
This past year gave us real proof of that. Because of our community of supporters, New York enacted the largest expansion of the state child tax credit, putting up to $1,000 back in the pockets of families with young children. Free school meals are now guaranteed for every student in the state. More families can get affordable child care. None of it happened quickly or easily. All of it happened because people showed up, year after year, and refused to let these issues fall off the agenda. I am so proud of what we’ve built together, and I am clear-eyed about what’s still ahead. Now, massive federal funding cuts threaten basic services families depend on. Child poverty is still too high. The work is far from finished.
So as we mark Schuyler Center’s 154th anniversary, I’m asking you to invest in what comes next. A generous donor is matching every gift made this month, dollar-for-dollar. That means your contribution will go twice as far for New York’s families. Whatever you’re able to give, it funds the data analysis that makes the case, the advocacy that moves policy, and the sustained presence that turns an idea into a real difference in a family’s life. Please make your gift today at scaany.org/donate.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this. We may be 154 years into this work, but I believe we’re just getting started.
Remember it: this is the month and year New York State legislators declared their intent to cut child poverty in half in ten years.
Before the pandemic, poverty affected the lives of one in five New York children and, in some communities—including Rochester, Buffalo, and the Bronx—one in every two children. Before the pandemic, a Black child was two times more likely to live in poverty than a white child. Before the pandemic, New York’s child poverty rate was higher than 31 other states. 2020 was already well-past time to address child poverty.
Since the pandemic, hundreds of thousands more children and families have plunged into poverty. Racial inequities have widened and been laid bare. By March 2021, 31% of New York adults reported it had been somewhat or very difficult to pay for usual household expenses and 24% reported not being current on rent or mortgage, with eviction or foreclosure in the next two months likely.
The Child Poverty Reduction Act S.2755-C (Ramos)/A.1160-C (Bronson) carves the beginning of a path to cut child poverty in New York State. This legislation declares policymakers’ intent to cut child poverty in half in ten years and establishes the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council tasked with developing a plan to do it. The Council will evaluate specific policies and their impacts on child poverty, including racial disparities, make concrete budget and policy recommendations with benchmarks and timelines, and publicly share data to make sure that New York meets its goal.
S.2755-C (Ramos)/A.1160-C (Bronson) went before the legislature with 41 co-sponsors in the Assembly and 24 co-sponsors in the Senate. Legislators’ votes in support were overwhelming and included Democrats and Republicans from rural, urban, and suburban communities that span the entirety of New York State.
Outside of the legislature, nearly 60 partners, coming from all corners of the state and all walks of life, have joined Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy in pushing for passage of the Child Poverty Reduction Act. Enthusiasm for this bold and urgently-needed initiative comes from nurses, pediatricians, parents, educators, child care providers, colleges and universities, community health centers, hospital leaders, child welfare agencies, libraries, youth bureaus, and community-based organizations. These are the people who, every day, see and try to cure child poverty’s ills. These are the people who know it would better for our children, our families, our communities, and our state, if we prevented poverty before it seeded poor health, problems in school, and reduced opportunity.
This law, if signed by the Governor, will be a bridge from today, when we make policy and budget decisions and hope they don’t plunge more children into poverty, to a day when New York is intentional about reducing child poverty and improving equity, by creating an expectation of analysis, measurement over time, and public accountability about whether and how a wide variety of policy and budget decisions affect opportunity and economic security for our most vulnerable children.
Following the Great Recession in 2008, when poverty rates rose, they continued to climb for six years, until 2015, when they finally dipped slightly. This time needs to be—and will be—different, for the sake of every single child and family whether they live in Buffalo, Batavia, or Brooklyn.
There is no time to waste. Right now, there are federal funds available to jump start this effort.
New York certainly has the means to tackle child poverty—it needs the will and the public accountability included in this legislation. When the Governor signs the Child Poverty Reduction Act, New York will signal our shared intention to make budget and policy choices that leave no child behind. Let’s go!
Sincerely,
Kate Breslin President and CEO[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
We have made great strides since the launch of our Campaign to End Child Poverty in December 2020. This year has brought a new President, a cohort of fresh, passionate State legislators, and growing enthusiasm among partners in our campaign to cut child poverty in half in 10 years.
In February, we presented at the New York State Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislators Living our Legacy event; released a paper highlighting New York State Child Poverty Facts; and gathered more and more co-sponsors for the Child Poverty Reduction Act, S.2755-A (Ramos)/A.1160 (Bronson). At this point, the bill has 17 co-sponsors in the Assembly, 16 in the Senate, and counting!
In addition to the progress we’ve made at the state level, the American Rescue Plan—which is projected to reduce child poverty substantially, though temporarily—has been passed in the US House of Representatives and Senate. It is not perfect; the child tax credit is refundable—this is good—but it glaringly omits children who do not have a Social Security Number. For this reason, we are urging New York State policymakers to include help for these children and families in the State budget, through the Empire State Child Credit.
It is long past time to commit to ending child poverty in New York State and the nation.
Greetings, friends. We miss you. We miss seeing you in our office and yours, at meetings, in the Capitol, on the street. We hope you and your loved ones are well. And we look forward to being together again.
The work of shaping public policy is critical, now more than ever, and there are many ways you can help.
Join us in advancing legislation to cut child poverty and improve equity. Child poverty reduction legislation has been introduced in the NYS Senate and Assembly. The bill seeks to cut child poverty in half by 2030, with a focus on racial equity, and would require the State’s budget director to consider the child poverty ramifications of policies. Senator Jessica Ramos from Queens introduced S. 9012 and Assemblymember Harry Bronson from Rochester introduced A. 11063. We are working with both to urge additional legislators to sign on as co-sponsors of the bills and to sign on to a pledge to consider all policies through a child poverty and equity lens. We are leading this work from the outside, together with a strong and motivated group of partners including The Children’s Agenda, American Academy of Pediatrics-NYS, Children’s Defense Fund-NY, Westchester Children’s Association, Citizens’ Committee for Children, Prevent Child Abuse NY, the Education Trust-NY, and Robin Hood. In some ways, this initiative is the umbrella over much of our other work. The legislation and pledge ask New York State policymakers to comprehend and assess the child poverty and racial equity implications of decisions they make. Our colleagues at The Children’s Agenda coordinated a press event (in person, socially distanced, outdoors) in Rochester about the legislation in late October and we’re working with bill sponsor, Senator Ramos, to plan a mid-November event in Queens.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, children in New York were more likely to live in poverty than children in 31 other states, with 19% experiencing poverty in 2019. The United Hospital fund estimates over 300,000 New York children are being driven into, or to the brink of, poverty due to rising unemployment related to COVID-19. Structural and systemic racism have contributed to rates of child poverty among New York children of color that exceed 30%. Many children who experience poverty face significant challenges—poor health, academic obstacles, and lower earnings—for the rest of their lives.
We were encouraged by the Governor’s remarks over the summer, calling on the federal government to end child poverty and we know New York can lead the way by setting this policy goal of a 50% reduction by 2030. Reducing child poverty will protect the health and well-being of all New Yorkers, grow our economy, and lead to long term savings for New York’s budget. This promise from our policymakers cannot come soon enough.
Let our policymakers know child care matters. Millions of working parents across New York are confronting balancing job responsibilities with caring for and supporting the education of their school-age children who are receiving care and instruction remotely or in a hybrid manner. At the same time, parents are struggling to secure or maintain access to safe, quality child care for their infants, toddlers, and pre-school-aged children. We’re continuing to work with allies across New York to call attention to our crumbling child care infrastructure and the things policymakers can to do shore it up. You can get more information in our Back to School Checklist for Fall 2020. And then call your Member of Congress and let them know what we need. We are also awaiting recommendations from Governor’s Child Care Availability Task Force, hopeful that they will be bold and comprehensive, and that Governor Cuomo will act on them this year, without delay.
These are just a few of the things we’re working on. Rest assured, we are still bringing our voice to child welfare, maternal mental health, oral health, Medicaid, and tax policy. And we need you—every single person—to join us.
Wow. What a difficult and uncertain time it has been and continues to be. We hope you and your loved ones are well.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced every one of us—individuals and organizations—to re-evaluate everything: how we rely on each other, where and how we work, and how our goals align with what is happening around and to us.
The health and safety of Schuyler Center’s staff and their families has been a priority. We moved to remote work in mid-March and are constantly improving our systems to work efficiently as a team.
We are extremely grateful to those who support us financially, many of whom have reached out to remind us Schuyler’s work is as important as ever. They have been flexible on grant reporting and timing, and continue to rely on us for insights and practical ways to reduce poverty and inequity in New York State.
Our funders are right—this work—shaping public policy to make it fairer and more focused on those in-need—is as important as ever! We are hopeful that much of the country is coming to acknowledge the same thing. As attention to systemic racism and police violence continues to grow, we are all called to re-examine our implicit biases. The coronavirus has made that abundantly clear over the last several months. The racial, social, and economic disparities evidenced by this deadly virus cannot be overlooked. Coronavirus does discriminate. A family’s neighborhood, income level, and race and ethnicity are all significant contributing factors to whether someone gets and dies from this deadly disease, and the extent to which their community is affected.
Schuyler Center continues to focus on income inequality and its ill effects on the health and well-being of New York families. We continue to examine and make concrete recommendations about strengthening New York’s public health infrastructure. New York has the resources to address these challenges, it needs the political leaders and will to do so. Governor Cuomo, in one of his daily news conferences recently said, “It always seems that the poorest people pay the highest price. Why is that?” Why indeed?
For almost 150 years, the Schuyler Center has advanced effective and inclusive public policies that put children and families first. We hope you will help us with this fight to shape policy so when COVID-19 returns or the next epidemic hits, we’re not again asking what we could have done differently.
In this time of uncertainty, I wanted to personally connect with you over concerns associated with COVID-19 (coronavirus), worldwide, and here in New York State.
Our hearts and thoughts are with everyone affected during this time and we appreciate the health and human services workers; local, state, and national leaders; and individuals around the world who are on the front lines working to contain the pandemic and reduce suffering. Here at Schuyler Center, we are still working daily to ensure that disenfranchised New Yorkers are not forgotten.
In the spirit of our mission, we are continuing to advocate, remotely and relentlessly, with policymakers and implementers — the Office of the Governor, State Legislators, State agencies, and Members of Congress — on issues that affect New York’s children and families. For those already living with low-incomes and at risk of food insecurity or with unstable housing, this time is especially precarious.
Click here to view the letter we sent on March 15, with colleagues, asking New York’s policy leaders to consider the urgent needs of child care programs across New York State, and the families they serve, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Per directives from the Governor that private businesses consider voluntary closings and allow employees to work from home, and that we all practice social distancing, Schuyler Center has closed our physical office and all staff are working remotely. As a team, we check-in with each other daily and we’re working to take all necessary precautions to help slow the spread of the virus by following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local health departments, and the New York State Department of Health.
Our decision to move to remote work is a proactive measure and we will still be hard at work in partnership with you.
We encourage everyone to:
Remain communicative with your neighbors, family members, and communities.
Check in on the emotional and mental well-being of your staff and peers.
Wash your hands frequently, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
Stay home if you’re sick.
Call your healthcare provider and/or use telemedicine services as a first line of defense.
Help stop or slow down the spread of the virus by practicing social distancing. For a quick smile,see what Mel Brooks and his son had to say about it.
Below is a list of useful resources information that you can call on should you need it. In the meantime, be well.
If you need assistance finding food, paying house bills, accessing free childcare, or other essential services, look here to find your local 211: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic
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