Citizens' Committee for Children of New York

Strategic budget investments can and will reduce child poverty in New York—let’s discuss them! As #PovertyAwarnessMonth comes to a close, we should talk about how we can impact change at the New York State level. CCC is a major advocate for anti-poverty policies and since we know that poverty is a policy choice, we know that the solutions also lie in policymaking. Decades of data and advocacy work proves that we can end child poverty in New York and that the solutions to do so involve investments in both supportive programs and lifting household financial security. Each of CCC’s areas of advocacy—healthy, housed, educated, and safe—frequently overlap under the umbrella of economic security and poverty reduction. This is because economic health is determined by a number of systems that contribute to child and family well-being and we believe in that holistic approach as a multi-issue organization. Our latest Insight discusses four major New York State budget solutions around housing, income, and food security that can reduce child poverty--and by how much each priority will do so!--as well as how school meals can also make a big impact. It's a quick but important read: https://bit.ly/BICPNYS26 Join us to stay up-to-date on advocacy across NY and NYC this budget season and beyond: https://bit.ly/ccceasub #PovertyReduction #ChildPoverty #ChildPovertyReduction #AntiPoverty #Advocacy #ChildAdvocacy #NYS #NY #NYC #NewYork

Creating universal free school meals for all students in New York has been a long-time priority of CCC. As a child advocacy organization and member of #Meals4AllNY, we know that providing children no-cost food in school has a number of proven benefits for families, children, and communities. Let's go over them! 🏫 What can universal school meals programs do for children in school? 🍎 Improve performance across academic areas 🍎 Reduce stigma for low-income students 🍎 Improve test scores 🍎 Improve attendance   🏘️ What can universal school meals programs do for families & communities? 🍎 Reduce child poverty 🍎 Reduce longstanding and widening racial disparities in nutrition, health, education, and achievement 🍎 Create better health outcomes 🍎 Eliminate school meal debt Data shows that every dollar invested in school meals provides ~$2 in health, equity, environmental, and economic benefits. Universal free school meals will save families an average of $165 per child per month—a critical step in making New York more affordable across the entire state. Last year we learned that households with young children were 40% more likely to leave New York State due to cost of living. Implementing programs like universal school meals can alleviate food insecurity and child poverty for so many families, making New York a better home for all young families. Today, #Meals4AllNY rallied at the Albany Capitol to promote universal school meals for this very reason. We stand with Governor Hochul in including universal school meals in the FY26 New York State Budget. As part of the #Meals4AllNY coalition, we will continue to work with partners in the legislature and in child and food advocacy to make this happen. #SchoolMeals #UniversalSchoolMeals #Lunchtime #SchoolLunch #Advocacy #ChildAdvocacy #NYS #NY #NewYork #FoodSecurity #ChildPoverty #PovertyReduction

On this day, we honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the most remarkable and inspiring leaders w in our country’s history. During a time of serious economic precariousness for so many families across New York, it feels fitting that we renew our call to action to prioritize anti-racist economic security. Dr. King was a champion of economic security and equity for Black Americans and spoke out against unacceptable levels of poverty amidst material prosperity, an issue that persists even in 2025. In his final speech, he poignantly asked, “Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day? And they are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation.” These words strike a chord as we look at data in New York on child poverty. New York has one of the largest economies in the world, but New York children are more likely to live in poverty than in 32 other states, amounting to a rate of roughly 1 in 5 children. The poverty rate approaches 1 in 3 among children of color and affects nearly half of children in some areas like Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse. New data also shows that in over half of U.S. states, more than 50% of people were in families with resources below the true cost of living threshold, meaning most people lacked the resources to meet the true cost of economic security. In New York, a staggering 54% of families are economically insecure by this measure. In a 1967 speech, Dr. King proclaimed, “The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.” We agree. Data proves many times over that poverty is a policy choice and we have the tools we need to end child poverty in New York. We know what policies and investments will work to bring economic security to millions of families in our communities and we will work to address inequity and to ensure every child is healthy, housed, educated, and safe. Today we honor Dr. King and his legacy in uplifting equality, equity, and economic justice. #MLK #MLKDay #MLKJr #PovertyReduction #Advocacy #NY #NYC

🗽Yesterday Governor Hochul delivered her 2025 State of the State Address and we applaud her inclusion of a number of commitments that will help advance policies that improve child and family well-being across the New York. As advocates for all of New York’s children, we were really pleased to see the Governor prioritize several critical proposals in her address, including: 💲 Expanding and improving access to the Empire State Child Credit (NY's #CTC) 🍎 Implementing universal free school meals throughout the state #Meals4AllNY 🍼 Providing a birth allowance for financially insecure parents aka the BABY (Birth Allowance for Beginning Year) Benefit  🏘️ Expanding affordable housing opportunities These proposals will help reduce child poverty and uplift child well-being in throughout New York. However, though these are excellent steps toward reducing child and family poverty, more work is required to ensure all New Yorkers have access to the services and supports they need to thrive. We look forward to building on these proposals and uplifting additional urgent needs, including: ❤️ Increasing Medicaid rates for outpatient mental health and substance use disorder services (see why this is critical here: https://bit.ly/BHGAP24) 📖 Increasing investments in the Early Intervention program 🏡 Promoting an inclusive statewide housing voucher program aka #HAVP (HAVP has been included in both the State Senate and Assembly’s One House bills for the last 2 fiscal years) 💵 Advancing a comprehensive package of anti-poverty reforms (see our breakdown of these priorities here: https://bit.ly/ECPWP24) 🧒 Providing supportive investments for youth-serving programs ✅ And more! CCC's commitment to advancing policies and investments that create equity for all New York families will guide us through this budget season and inform our work and partnerships to make change happen! Join our E-Action Network to get involved: https://bit.ly/ccceasub #NewYork #Advocacy #ChildAdvocacy #MentalHealth #PovertyReduction #ChildPoverty #YouthJustice #EarlyIntervention #Housing #FoodSecurity

Fighting Child Poverty in NY: What’s In and Out for 2025 ❌ Out ❌: a child tax credit with a maximum of $330 per child annually ✅ In ✅: a child tax credit offering eligible families up to $1,000 for children under 4 & $500 for children over 4 📣 Great news for poverty reduction: #ICYMI Governor Kathy Hochul announced her proposal for the largest expansion of the child tax credit (CTC) in New York’s history! 💲 This plan would give 1.6 million New York families an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per child under age 4 and up to $500 per child from 4 through 16, impacting 2.75 million children statewide. 🫶 This CTC proposal comes after some incredible collaborative advocacy in 2024 by New York families, allies, advocacy organizations, service providers, and many more community members. We joined together from all corners of the state to ensure child poverty reduction was a top priority for 2025 and we were heard. ✅ When fully implemented, the Governor’s Office estimates that this initiative could reduce poverty among children statewide by over 8% alone. CCC fully supports this CTC proposal and we thank Governor Hochul for prioritizing this opportunity. 🔗 Follow this link to read about more policy solutions that can fight child poverty: https://bit.ly/ECPWP24 🔗 Follow this link to subscribe to our E-Action Network to stay up-to-date on advocacy and action opportunities for the 2025 budget season: https://bit.ly/ccceasub #ChildPoverty #Poverty #PovertyReduction #CPRAC #NY #NYS #NYC #NewYork #ChildAdvocacy #Advocacy #CTC #ChildTaxCredit

SNAP theft is surging, but Congress let replacement benefits expire. Families are left without food or recourse. It’s time to demand action. Learn how you can help: https://bit.ly/3BPI6MB

Fighting Child Poverty in NY: What’s In and Out for 2025 ❌ Out ❌: a child tax credit with a maximum of $330 per child annually ✅ In ✅: a child tax credit offering eligible families up to $1,000 for children under 4 & $500 for children over 4 📣 Great news for poverty reduction: #ICYMI Governor Kathy Hochul announced her proposal for the largest expansion of the child tax credit (CTC) in New York’s history! 💲 This plan would give 1.6 million New York families an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per child under age 4 and up to $500 per child from 4 through 16, impacting 2.75 million children statewide. 🫶 This CTC proposal comes after some incredible collaborative advocacy in 2024 by New York families, allies, advocacy organizations, service providers, and many more community members. We joined together from all corners of the state to ensure child poverty reduction was a top priority for 2025 and we were heard. ✅ When fully implemented, the Governor’s Office estimates that this initiative could reduce poverty among children statewide by over 8% alone. CCC fully supports this CTC proposal and we thank Governor Hochul for prioritizing this opportunity. 🔗 Follow this link to read about more policy solutions that can fight child poverty: https://bit.ly/ECPWP24 🔗 Follow this link to subscribe to our E-Action Network to stay up-to-date on advocacy and action opportunities for the 2025 budget season: https://bit.ly/ccceasub #ChildPoverty #Poverty #PovertyReduction #CPRAC #NY #NYS #NYC #NewYork #ChildAdvocacy #Advocacy #CTC #ChildTaxCredit

CCC is welcoming 2025 with gratitude for everything we accomplished alongside partners and supporters in 2024. Successes of this work included: - Funding to support poverty reduction efforts in upstate cities - Reform to require more equitable reimbursement rates for behavioral health services - Baselined funding for city rental vouchers - Securing rate increases for Early Intervention providers - Restored funding for NYC’s public early childhood education system - And much more! CCC’s unwavering vision focuses on the fundamental rights of all children and their families to be healthy, housed, educated, safe, and economically secure. We know that so much of success in advocacy work is thanks to collaboration, support, and care and we appreciate all of our supporters, allies, and partners who tirelessly work to help achieve these significant goals. We are ready to tackle more work together to promote equity and justice for all New York families in 2025! Read about important child advocacy work and CCC's efforts by browsing our collection of Digital Briefs and Insight posts discussing critical topics: https://bit.ly/CCCDBI #ChildAdvocacy #Advocacy #NYC #NY #NewYorkCity #Housing #PovertyReduction #Community #Health #Education #Equity

Proud to have played a role working with Robin Hood CEO Richard Buery and with my Public Policy team (Loris T. Chansi Powell, Esq. (she/her) Chloe Sarnoff Nathan Berger ) and so many amazing advocates Kate Breslin Dia B. Pete Nabozny Larry Marx Allison Lake Dorothy (Dede) Hill Kari Siddiqui Jennifer March Jenn O'Connor Lara Kyriakou, M.S. Ed. and countless others in this historic announcement for New York children and families. Grateful for leaders in the Governor’s office like Nichols Silbersack Alyson Grant Tarek Alyson Silkowski Peter A. Hatch and state agencies like Isaac McGinn and many others that work to make this change possible from the inside.

We accomplished so much this past year, and with your financial support we can secure even more victories for children, youth, and families in NY. As we greet 2025, count down some of our past year's successes with us and get inspired to continue impactful advocacy in the new year. 10. Graduated 25 passionate New Yorkers from our Community Leadership Course, including class members from partner organizations and 60% from non-profit and public institutions. 9. Helped secure a 5% Early Intervention rate increase for in-person services statewide. 8. Co-led the Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids Youth and Caregiver Council which helped secure critical budget and policy wins for youth and families in behavioral health. 7. Co-led the Family Homelessness Coalition, partnering to secure $540.3 million in baselined funding for CityFHEPS beginning in Fiscal Year ’26. 6. Guided youth leaders in facilitating listening sessions to gather feedback from 281 young people for a Central Brooklyn community needs assessment. 5. Graduated 25 YouthAction Interns, 20 YouthAction Members & 8 Peer Trainers from our youth programming for a total of 53 NYC youth learning and developing advocacy skills! 4. Published the 2024 edition of our Keeping Track of NYC’s Children data book. 3. Advocated with partners to restore over $600 million in funding cuts to critical education programs, including 3-K and Pre-k, SummerRising, and more. 2. Helped secure $350 million for a one-year supplemental tax credit to families eligible for the Empire State Child Credit. 1. Engaged generous and caring supporters like you! If you feel ready to tackle 2025 with us, please consider supporting our efforts with an end of year contribution: https://bit.ly/ccc-don Every dollar helps us work towards a future where every child is healthy, housed, educated, and safe. #EndofYear #NYE #NYC #NewYear #Fundraising #Nonprofit #ChildAdvocacy