NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Children's Defense Fund-New York Executive Director Naomi Post released this statement in response to the U.S. Census Bureau release of 2016 child poverty numbers in the states today. The new information shows New York has been left behind on national progress in reducing child poverty. In 2016, more than 13.2 million children nationally, or 18% of all children, were living in poverty. While New York experienced a small decline in child poverty rates from 22% in 2015 to 20.7% in 2016, it still had almost 850,000 children in the state living in poverty. Nearly half of those children live in extreme poverty. A family of four with an annual income of $24,563 lives in poverty, and a family of four in extreme poverty has half that annual income. Poverty in New York continues to disproportionately impact children of color, with 29% of all black children and 31% of all Hispanic children living in poverty, in contrast to 13% of all white children in the state living in poverty.
"While efforts to reduce poverty are trending slowing in the right direction, the number of children left behind in our state and across the country could soon increase dramatically. Significantly fewer families and children are poor today because of various forms of government assistance that helped lift them out of poverty. Programs including refundable tax credits like EITC, SNAP and housing assistance, as well as cash benefits such as unemployment insurance, social security and supplemental security income, have contributed significantly to the progress. Both the mean-spirited Trump Administration budget proposal and the House Budget plan demand deep cuts in low-income assistance programs, threatening to reverse the positive trends experienced over the past several decades. Instead of eliminating programs we know work, we should be expanding them to make sure that no child is denied the opportunity to thrive in this rich state and country."
The Children's Defense Fund-New York Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.
SOURCE Children’s Defense Fund-New York
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