Plan to expand child tax credit offers hope, along with direct payments
Lisa Backus, Conn. Health I-Team Writer
March 3, 2021
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Chinara Johnson is pictured with her children, from left, Zavad Morton, 5, Azania Johnson, 8, and Zakai Morton, 5, near her apartment building in downtown New Haven, Feb. 26, 2021.Cloe PoissonShow MoreShow Less
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Chinara Johnson is pictured with her children, from left, Zavad Morton, 5, Azania Johnson, 8, and Zakai Morton, 5, near her apartment building in downtown New Haven, Feb. 26, 2021.Cloe PoissonShow MoreShow Less
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When her car started making a noise more than a year ago, Chinara Johnson parked the vehicle and hasn’t used it since.
Biden s plan to cut child poverty by half: What you need to know tampabay.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tampabay.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
An Expanded Child Tax Credit Would Lift Millions of Children Out of Poverty
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Currently, nearly 11 million or 1 in 7 U.S. children live in poverty.
1 By that measure, the United States compares dismally with other wealthy countries. Children under age 5 experience higher poverty rates than older children.
2 Living in poverty during these critical years for brain development has been shown to have significant negative effects on the long-term well-being of children.
3 Moreover, children of color are disproportionately represented among children in poverty, reinforcing systemic inequalities, including racial wealth gaps. The harmful effects of child poverty exact enormous costs on America’s society and overall economy.
BBC News
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image copyrightAFP via Getty Images
The US is considering introducing a monthly child benefit for the first time, a seismic shift for the country that has some of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world.
Democrats are hoping to include the measure - which could pay up to $300 (£217.50) per month per child - as part of a larger coronavirus spending package.
President Joe Biden s spokeswoman this week repeated that the current plans are focused on emergency funding rather than a more permanent shift.
But anti-poverty advocates, who have pushed for a monthly benefit for years, hope inserting such a programme temporarily will lay the groundwork for more lasting change.
USA TODAY
For months, Cris Cardona, 21, has fed his family from the garden he started in his backyard. Harvests of black-eyed peas, arugula, okra, radishes and a cornucopia of other vegetables are what sustains Cardona, who aspires to one day have a career running a community food bank for his neighborhood in Orlando, Florida. To reach that goal, Cardona saves a small amount of the wages he earns at his job as a manager at McDonald’s to help cover the cost of the agricultural science degree he eventually hopes to earn.
Cardona said he mostly works with elderly people, single mothers and young people trying to get by.