ROCHESTER, N.Y. —Poverty levels in New York have been fluctuating for decades.
The state Comptroller's Office recently put out a report showing that in 2014, childhood poverty rates in New York matched national levels. Then, rates improved during the COVID-19 pandemic when many families were granted additional child tax credits.However, now nearly one in five children in New York are living below the poverty line, according to the state’s most recent report.
“No child was born destined to be in poverty," Larry Marx, the CEO of the Children’s Agenda in Rochester, said. "We have choices that we can make, like state tax credits that can be expanded that would fit families out of poverty."
The Children’s Agenda is a not-for-profit that works with the state and families to support children in need.
What You Need To Know
- A new report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that nearly one in five children live in poverty
- More than 2.7 million New Yorkers were living in poverty in 2022, and more than a quarter (735,742) were children
- Under the Official Poverty Measure (OPM), 18.8% of New York's children were in poverty in 2022
- Almost half of all children living in poverty in the state are in deep poverty, meaning they are in a household with income that is 50% below the federal poverty line
- The Children's Agenda is advocating for the Working Families Act, the Housing Voucher Access Program and more state tax credits, among other calls for funding to advocate for children
“That is a limit no one should be living anywhere near," he said. "That's $30,000 for a family of four with two children. There’s no way to pay forbasicneeds of food andshelterandmedicineandtransportation at that kind of salary level. It is unimaginable that kind of level of desperation and hardship. It just makes me think we live in medieval times to allow families to sink to that level of stress and scramble and hardship.”
The report says more than 2.7 million New Yorkers were living in poverty in 2022 and 735,742 were children. Under the Official Poverty Measure, 18.8% of New York’s children were in poverty that year.
“It causes enormous stress on the part of the parents, and that just permeates every part of family life," Marx said. "When families are struggling to try to get to two jobs and borrowing cars or using the bus, getting you with their children four or five in the morning to make sure that their children are in school, and that they’re able to get to work or trying to make the $100 stretch for the rest of the month so that food can be on the table, deciding whether sometimes lunch or dinner is the more important of the two. That’s so incredibly stressful.”
Although this stress impacts the entire house, Marx says it can be detrimental to younger children.
“It’s particularly hard-hitting on children in their earliest years," Marxsaid. "Those are the years when their brains and bodies are forming. By the time a child reaches kindergarten at age 5, about 80% of the brain growth that happens in a human being will have happened. All the neutral connections [are] established. So the youngest children 0 to 5 suffer the most from poverty, which is the case. They are disproportionately more younger children, 0 to 5 in poverty than older children."
These demographics can have long-lasting effects as children continue to develop and mature.
“There’s not a single aspect of a child’s life that isn’t touched by a family being in poverty," Marx said. "Whether it’s their educational outcomes, whether it’s their health outcomes or their mental health outcomes. Everything. Every corner of a child’s life: their opportunities to play their access to green space in their neighborhoods, all of that is affected by the level of household income of the family. The consequences areperhapsthere are less there’s less attachment to school. And so we know that chronic absenteeism is a humongous problem, not going to school, let alone being there and learning and graduating is incredibly harmfulforthe lifelong outcomes of teens and youth. It means they’re less likely to have permanent employment [and] less likely to have higher income opportunities. It’s humungous."
The Children’s Agenda is advocating for more help from the state to curb these troubling child poverty rates.
“The U.S. Census showed people spend that money on household basic needs," he said. "And when you have in Rochester over 30% of families being housing burdened, meaning that they can't afford their rent or mortgage because it's so much higher as a percent of their income than for the rest of us, that makes a huge, huge difference. So we can pass to Working Families Act. We could pass the Housing Voucher Access Program, which would essentially establish a new level of support for families in need of affording rent for their families. That’s another bill that has not veer another policy approach that hasn’t been adopted. There are all choices and the fact is the clock is ticking."
FAQs
It causes children to underachieve in school and to have greater difficulty finding employment as adults. It denies poor children access to resources and limits educational opportunities; poor children are disproportionately less likely to attend school than their peers.
What does the child poverty reduction act do? ›
“(a) Statement of policy. —It is the policy of the United States to reduce the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half in 5 years.
What is the solution to child poverty? ›
To boost parental employment as a pathway out of poverty, families with young children need family leave and affordable, accessible, and high-quality early care and education. Decreases in unemployment rates and increases in single mothers' labor force participation are associated with declines in child poverty.
Why is child poverty a big issue? ›
No matter where they are, children who grow up impoverished suffer from poor living standards, develop fewer skills for the workforce, and earn lower wages as adults.
What are some of the major effects on children when they are raised in poverty? ›
Living in poverty often means having limited access to health care, food and housing security, greater risk of school drop-out for children, homeless, unemployment due to lack of education or child care and, unfortunately, not reaching one's full potential.
What has the largest impact on child poverty? ›
Systemic racism ingrained into our American institutions has been a historical roadblock perpetuating child poverty. Current statistics indicate the ongoing effectiveness of the roadblocks in pushing the American Dream of economic mobility further out of reach, especially for Black and Brown children (see Table 2).
What are some examples of legislation aimed to reduce poverty? ›
Tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are two of the largest anti-poverty programs and positively impact children's health and education.
What is the aim of the child poverty Action Group? ›
Our three main objectives are to: Campaign to strengthen public commitment to end child poverty. Ensure government adoption of evidence-based policy solutions to child poverty. Use our expertise to maximise family incomes and reduce child poverty.
What happens to children in poverty? ›
Children living in poverty don't just experience financial instability that is detrimental to their development, but they are also more likely to attend underresourced schools, reside in neighborhoods subjected to chronic disinvestment,47 experience adverse health outcomes,48 and become involved in the child welfare ...
What is the end child poverty act? ›
The ECPA simplifies the existing tax system by abolishing the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). It establishes a credit of $600 for single filers and $1,200 for joint filers, phasing out gradually at $20,000 and $40,000, respectively.
The federal government today spends about $500 billion a year on programs that guarantee cash, food, and medical benefits to the families of poor children as well as for other programs that provide housing benefits, education, training and, in some cases, encourage work and marriage.
What can children do to end poverty? ›
Kids can take action to help the poor and needy in their local community or in other lands. Kids can get their family to donate money, or get together with others to hold a fund-raising drive.
What is the root cause of child poverty? ›
Economic factors such as a lack of job opportunities, low wages, and inadequate social safety nets contribute directly to the risk of extreme poverty for children and families. In addition to that, social issues play a part, such as gender, ethnicity, race, and geography.
How bad is child poverty in the US? ›
The official child poverty rate in 2022 was 12.4% according to the United States Census Bureau. Over 9 million children are estimated to be in poverty in the United States. In 2022, 37.9 million people were in poverty in the United States.
What race is the poorest in the United States? ›
41% Native American or American Indian. 32% Asian. 38% Black or African American. 43% Hispanic or Latino.
How does poverty affect children's development? ›
Children born to parents living in poverty are more likely to be low birthweight and less likely to survive the first year of life. They are also more likely to suffer from asthma and other childhood diseases. Children who grow up in poverty may also experience poor health in later life as a result.
How are children's education affected by poverty? ›
Overcrowded classrooms, broken desks, no computers — all are common sights in school districts with budgets that don't meet students' needs. Teachers burn out or may be unqualified to teach certain subjects. All of these challenges create a serious disadvantage for children growing up in poor households.
How can poor parenting impact child development? ›
When parenting is characterized by indifference or a lack of support, children may struggle academically. The absence of a nurturing environment can impede cognitive growth, hindering a child's ability to learn, concentrate, and problem-solve effectively.
How growing up in poverty may affect a child's developing brain? ›
Poverty may affect neural activation. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), several studies have found variability in the patterns of frontal and parietal-occipital activation during the solution of tasks that demanded phonological processing.
