Child Poverty
The current expanded CTC still leaves out hundreds of thousands of children due to arcane rules built into the tax code, collectively known as the “child-claiming” rules. It is time for Congress to rewrite the child-claiming rules to ensure the CTC follows each child, no matter their household composition, family structure, or where they live.
Child Poverty
To ensure that no child is excluded from the CTC because of their family structure, frequency of moving, or their involvement in other systems, Congress must make critical changes to the definition of “qualifying child” for the purpose of the CTC. To expand eligibility, the CTC should be accessible to all children regardless of their relationship to their caregiver and the bene t should continue to support children and their families as their living arrangements change.
Child Poverty
Children and families need ongoing support and access to healthy, nutritious meals during the pandemic and beyond. We cannot revert back to strict, outdated, and inflexible standards that leave millions of children—disproportionately Black, Latinx, and Indigenous children—behind and vulnerable to hunger. To truly build back better and advance racial equity, we must fully and finally eliminate barriers to healthy food and success for all children. Congress can—and must—begin right now and advance a bold CNR bill.
Child Health
After an extensive and competitive procurement process, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has selected the global law firm Morgan Lewis as its legal counsel. The partnership is an essential part of CDF’s strategic direction focused on institutional growth and movement building for child well-being.
Child Poverty
Unconditional, generous, and broad cash helps the lives of families and children and the Stockton experiment should be a guide as we study the effects of the expanded CTC and work to build this expansion into a permanent, universal child allowance. The work is far from over, but in July, when families begin to receive their first checks, the power of unconditional cash will be felt across the country.
Child Health
President Biden recently released his Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget request to Congress to strengthen the economy, address longstanding racial disparities, and ensure a more equitable future for our children. After a year marked by such dramatic change and drastic negative impact on children’s lives, we need meaningful investments in supports for children and families. President Biden’s FY22 budget request starts to do just that.
Education
Students deserve safe, healthy, and inclusive learning environments and access to equitable educational opportunities, including extracurricular activities like athletics. State and local leaders must reject attacks on trans students and enact policies that protect trans students from discrimination.
In Solidarity Stories from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Leaders, a project of the National Asian American Leaders Table, stories ground us in the history and the possibility of solidarity practices and act as an entry point to commit to collective liberation among AAPI, Black, indigenous, and Latinx communities.