Government officials and agencies, community-based organizations, and advocates across the country can help reduce poverty and hardship by conducting aggressive outreach and giving hands-on assistance to help the lowest-income, and likely hardest-to-reach, families access the Child Tax Credit.

Millions report that their households did not get enough to eat or are not caught up on rent payments.

Residents of the territories are U.S. citizens or, in the case of American Samoa, U.S. nationals; yet federal law treats them far less favorably than residents of the states when it comes to their Medicaid coverage — even though they are more likely than residents of the states to rely on Medicaid for their health care.

States can expand opportunity and build stronger, more prosperous, and inclusive communities by reducing the incarceration of children and young adults and increasing the use of sensible alternatives...

States can expand opportunity and build stronger, more prosperous, and inclusive communities by reducing the incarceration of children and young adults and increasing the use of sensible alternatives that advance equitable outcomes.

Policymakers are paying long-overdue attention to reducing high and increasing rates of deaths and severe health complications among Black people who give birth. Comprehensively addressing this challenge and the broader maternal health crisis requires making a continuum of high-quality health coverage, health care, and other services accessible before, during, and after pregnancy.

The federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) system helps many people who have lost their jobs by temporarily replacing part of their wages. (See “Policy Basics: Unemployment Insurance.”) Under...

Due to limited program funding, families struggling to afford housing that manage to get off the waiting list for a Housing Choice Voucher must typically wait for years before receiving a voucher,...

When President Trump took office in January 2017, he inherited an economy in its 91st month of economic expansion following the end of the Great Recession in June 2009. That expansion continued into 2020, becoming the longest on record, but a sharp contraction in economic activity arising from COVID-19 ended it.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) is the primary source of nutrition assistance for low-income families and individuals, enabling them to spend more on...

The Trump Administration and 18 Republican state attorneys general are asking the courts to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional.

Policymakers should look to increase taxes on the nation’s wealthiest households, which not only enjoy enormous tax breaks but also have done extremely well in recent decades.

The Thrifty Food Plan — the USDA’s food plan designed to provide a nutritionally adequate diet at minimal cost and the basis for SNAP benefits — is badly out of date.

For the many lower- and middle-income families whose finances were tenuous even before the COVID-19 pandemic or whose wages stalled in recent decades even as the economy grew, recovery proposals from the Biden Administration and members of Congress would provide the kind of foundation that households need to thrive.

Much of the income of the very wealthy escapes annual taxation because the increase in the value of their stocks, real estate, and other investments is not considered “taxable income.”

Recent participation varies widely by state but lags behind Medicaid and SNAP.

The map and charts below illustrate changes in WIC, Medicaid, and SNAP participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes are discussed in Eligible Low-Income Children Missing Out on...

Closing the coverage gap would increase health insurance coverage, reduce racial health disparities, and improve health care access, health outcomes, and financial security.

Safe, affordable housing remains out of reach for millions of people with disabilities and their families. As Congress considers recovery legislation, lawmakers have a historic opportunity to address this by expanding the Housing Choice Voucher program to more households.

Working with states to obtain and analyze administrative data is a central component of effective administrative advocacy aimed at ensuring that all eligible people have continued access to coverage.

This chart book provides background on the depletion of the IRS. For more on how to rebuild the IRS, see: Rebuilding IRS Would Reduce Tax Gap, Help Replenish Depleted Revenue...

While government programs have done much to narrow these disparities in poverty, further progress will require stronger government efforts to reduce poverty and discrimination and build opportunity for all.

SSI benefits are critical for those who need them, but SSI is woefully out of date.

The end of the school year usually coincides with a troubling spike in childhood hunger as low-income children lose access to free and reduced-price school meals. Federal policymakers likely staved...

The Biden budget departs sharply from the last decade of austerity.

This paper explores the background of the AVS requirement, the vendors that administer the systems; and the typical AVS process. It discusses AVSs’ current limitations and highlights best practices for advocates to promote and state agencies to implement to improve the AVS process and streamline eligibility determinations. Finally, it recommends federal action to help AVS states streamline processing.

A historically large share of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. As a result, millions of American families have less wealth, and therefore fewer opportunities, than they otherwise would.