English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Hebrew
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
SpanishPOVE RTY
Children growing up in poverty face horrible lifelong consequences to their health, education, and overall quality of life. Compared with cities its size, Rochester ranks as the number one worst city in the United States for child poverty, with 52.5% of our city’s children in poverty. We are first in the nation in the rate of extreme poverty, with 16.4% of the city’s population below half the federal poverty standard.
Congress ordered and funded the largest, most exhaustive, and most nonpartisan, evidence-based report on how to reduce childhood poverty in half. The 2019 report released by the National Academy of Sciences estimates that child poverty costs us $800 billion to $1.1 trillion every year due to increased crime, worsened health, and lower earnings when poor kids become adults.
But the report concluded that a suite of two-generation-at-once public policy changes would cut child poverty in half in 10 years:
- A big increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit;
- A refundable child tax credit; and
- A publicly funded minimum child support payment for single parents entitled to child support from their former partners.
Along with assistance for high quality early child care and education, we already know what works. What’s missing is the political will to make it happen. That’s where The Children’s Agenda comes in.
Our Recommendations on Poverty
Expand benefit levels and eligibility guidelines for the Empire Child Tax Credit (to include children under 4), the Earned Income Tax Credit (to including childless adults, adults 25 and under, and increasing the state's add-on), and New York State Child Care Tax Credit.
Poverty News and Alerts
See Our Press Conference
Poverty
"Poverty... should not be accepted as a necessary evil or insoluble problem, but should be considered a crisis requiring emergency measures. It is a matter of will and priorities, not a matter of resources."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Learn More
Victories
- Child Care Subsidies. Our ongoing advocacy with Monroe County resulted in the County adding $1.8 million toward child care in the 2019 budget. This will provide child care to 200 additional low-income working families.
- Paid Family Leave New York. Working families no longer have to choose between caring for their newborn and risking their economic security. TCA strongly advocated for NY to pass Paid Family Leave legislation, giving 6.4 million working New York families the financial stability to bond with their baby, newly adopted or fostered child. The law was signed in 2016. Family members no longer have to choose between what’s best for their job and what’s best for their family.
