Poverty

Rise Celebrates Passage of the Child Poverty Reduction Act—And Calls for Community Groups and Impacted Parents to Lead Its Implementation

New York Governor Hochul recently signed the Child Poverty Reduction Act into law after it was passed with near-unanimous support from the Legislature earlier this year. This legislation calls for the creation of a Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council to explore policies, make recommendations, and publish benchmarks, timelines and reports to ensure that NYS reduces child poverty by 50% within the next 10 years.

In Search of Security — When finding housing is a job in itself

Piazadora and her son

Six years ago I went into the New York City shelter system. For 11 months, I searched for apartments like crazy. I had few options. I had just come out of a psychiatric hospital. I had a 4-year-old son and was pregnant with my daughter. I had a housing voucher and was living off of supplemental security income and food stamps. I went in and out of real estate offices until … Read More

No Room for Families — How the housing crisis contributes to kids entering foster care

Worrying about where your family will sleep while fearing the removal of your child is a burden that parents increasingly carry. In 2015, more than 200,000 families with children experienced homelessness in this country.

Here, Ruth White, Executive Director of the National Center for Housing & Child Welfare, explains how housing insecurity makes families more likely to face child protective investigations, have their children removed, and face delays in reunification.

Q: How do homelessness and … Read More

When Ends Don’t Meet — Lack of affordable housing can affect the strongest families

When my son Remi was 2, he was taken from me for three years. I felt so much hate and fear.

When he returned home, I was ready to create a loving, stable environment for him. I wanted to know that he was safe. I wanted him to have a yard to play in. I wanted him to have space to have fun.

Over time, my husband and I got more financially secure. When we saw Remi … Read More

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