Every child should have an abundance of the resources they need to grow up strong— healthcare, stable housing, a community of caregivers, nourishing food, and family economic security. Unfortunately, even in New York State, that is not the case for many of our children.
The experience of poverty in childhood has tremendous impacts on the social, emotional, and cognitive wellbeing of children, at a moment when their bodies and brains are rapidly developing. Childhood poverty has been shown to adversely impact health, and to create and widen achievement gaps.
Ending child poverty is an urgent need: for our children experiencing poverty, each day matters. The stress associated with poverty has been shown to alter the brain development of young children – causing permanent changes in the structure and functioning of the brain. As a result, many children who experience poverty face significant challenges – in the form of poor health, academic obstacles, and lower earnings – for the rest of their lives. This has a detrimental impact on children, but also on the future viability of communities.
New York has for too long allowed hundreds of thousands of children to endure the hardships of poverty – in times of recession, and in times of plenty. New York’s child poverty rate has hovered just above and just below 20% for decades, with Black and Latino children significantly more likely to live in poverty than their white peers. And what is more, 371,000 (9%) of New York children live in extreme poverty, meaning that their families live at 50% or less of the Federal Poverty Level. For a family of four in 2021, that meant living on $13,739 per year or less.
We know that there are policy solutions that can work to reduce – and ultimately eliminate – child poverty in New York State. The passage of The Child Poverty Reduction Act commits New York State to reducing child poverty by half over the next decade.
We invite you to use this website to learn more about the work to bring to the forefront those policies that will have a meaningful impact on the lives of children and families living in poverty, and to support state action that prioritizes ending child poverty in New York State.