Briefs Detail Importance of Income Supports in Economic Recessions
January 8, 2009 - Six new briefs detail the key role that programs such as Medicaid, SCHIP, Earned Income Tax Credit, SNAP program (formerly food stamps), TANF program (formerly AFDC) and other income supports have played in the well-being of Americans during and after economuc downturns since the 1970s. These briefs by the Urban Institute also discuss what might be ahead, and how these government programs aid those in distress.

Number of Homeless Families Rising
January 8, 2009- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a report showing that the number of homeless families with children has grown in recent months and is expected to climb even higher due to the recession and housing crisis. Their report recommends that Congress consider including increased funding for new housing vouchers and homelessness prevention efforts when developing an economic recovery package. They recommend funding that would provide Rhode Island with an additional 1,035 housing vouchers and $9.3 million in homelessness prevention funds. The full report can be found at: http://www.cbpp.org/1-8-09hous.htm

Children's Defense Fund Releases State of America's Children 2008
December 23, 2008 - Accoding to the CDF report, children in America lag behind almost all industrialized nations on key child indicators. Among economic indicators, CDF found that every 33 seconds in the United States, a baby is born into poverty. CDF also found that almost 1 in 13 children in lives in extreme poverty, with young children more likely to live in extreme poverty. View highlights from the 2008 report, child poverty and income, or view the entire 2008 report.

Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short
October 20, 2008 - Many Aerican families, despite working hard, earn incomes too low to achieve economic security. Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short, a follow-up to a 2004 report, found that an additional 350,000 working families were low-income in 2006 compared to 2002. Written by the Working Poor Families Project and funded in part by the Casey Foundation, the new report analyzes U.S. Census data and concludes that more than one out of four working families with children is low-income, and a total of 42 million adults and children struggle to get by. Learn more from the Working Poor Families Project or download the report.

Children Living in Poverty in Rhode Island
September 17, 2008 - Poverty is related to many of the challenges to the well-being of children. Children are most at risk of not achieving their full potential. In Rhode Island, 17.5% (40,468) of children under the age of 18 lived below the federal poverty threshold according to the recently release Issue Brief, Child Poverty in Rhode Island. This Issue Brief provides updated data on the children living in poverty in Rhode Island.

New Data Show Increase in Children Living in Poverty and Uninsured Children
August 26, 2008 - According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, 17.5% of Rhode Island's children under age 18 lived in poverty in 2007, up from 15.1% in 2006. 6.9% of Rhode Island children were uninsured in the three year period from 2005-2007, compared with 6.4% of children 2004-2006. Rhode Island ranks 11th in the nation for children's health insurance coverage. View the press release, and the data tables on children's health insurance coverage and child poverty, prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT.

Child Well Being Index Shows Stall in Growth of Children's Quality of Life
August 6, 2008 - The Foundation for Child Development Child Well-Being Index (CWI) is a composite measure that makes it possible to analyze national trends in overall child well-being over time. The 2008 annual release of CWI finds that after an upward trend for eight years, 1994 through 2002, progress in American children's quality of life has now moved into a stall/slow growth period. The report is based on 28 indicators in seven key areas of well-being beginning in 1975.

New Web Site With Resources on Homelessness
August 6, 2008 - SAMHSA has launched a new Homelessness Resource Center (HRC) web site which brings together various elements to promote recovery-oriented and consumer-centered services for people who are homeless. The website is targeted toward providers who work with people who are homeless, and shares state-of-the art knowledge, evidence-based practices, and practical resources.

2008 Report on Key National Indicators of Child Well-Being Available Online
July 14, 2008 - The newly released America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008 profiles the status of the nation's children and youth, presenting up-to-date federal statistics on a variety of issues in one convenient reference. According to the report, math and reading scores of fourth and eighth graders have increased, but also shows that the teen birth rate and the proportion of infants born at low birthweight have also risen.

Improvements made in the Food Stamp Program
July 11, 2008 - The Center for Budget & Policy Priorities has released an analysis on the improvements in the Food Stamp Program in the Farm Bill. With the measure providing an additional $7.8 billion in resources over Fiscal Years 2009 – 2017, the report provides a provision by provision analysis of how the changes will help low-income families put food on the table in the face of rising food and fuel prices.

Measuring Poverty in the United States
July 7, 2008  - Released in June, this National Center for Children in Poverty fact sheet discusses the U.S. government’s outdated method for measuring poverty and points to some alternative ways to more accurately gauge economic hardship.

Federal Spending on Kids Decreasing
July 2, 2008 - A new study reveals once again that the share of federal domestic spending on children is continuing a downward trend, making no improvement since the release of a similar report last year. The study, entitled Kids’ Share 2008: How Children Fare in the Federal Budget, is an annual examination of federal spending trends and federal tax polices that support and impact children and families.

Family Support Programs Impacted by FY '09 Budget
June 12, 2008- The RI House Finance Committee passed the FY '09 budget with significant impacts on income supports for working families, including changes to the Family Independence Program, RIte Care coverage and appropriations for community health centers. The budget is now being transmitted to the House, for a full House vote within the next week to 10 days. After the House approves the budget, it moves to Senate Finance and then to the full Senate. View more detailed highlights from the budget here.

50-State Profiles on Family Economic Security - Rhode Island
May 20, 2008 - NCCP’s newest 50-state profiles provide data on low-income children and families in each state and highlight state policy choices regarding families’ work attachment and advancement, income adequacy, and asset development. View RI's economic security profile.

Twenty State Policies to Create Bright Futures for America's Children, Families and Communities
May 5, 2008 - The newly released Policy Matters 2008 - State Policy Reports highlights findings from assembled research from the states on effective policies in areas important to a family's opportunity and stability: employment, income and asset growth, health, education, and healthy family relationships. The report includes state comparisons related to key policy measures.

Foreclosure Crisis to Impact 6,200 RI Children
April 30, 2008 - The report, The Impact of the Mortgage Crisis on Children, released by First Focus reveals that an estimated 6,200 children living in Rhode Island will be directly impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis as their families lose their homes due to foreclosures. A comprehensive analysis of how the crisis will impact kids, the report predicts that this number will rise even higher when accounting for other populations, such as children being evicted from rental units that are going into default and those children whose parents default on conventional loans.

Pulling Apart: A state by state analysis of income trends
According to this report by the Center on Budget and Policy, Rhode Island 12^th in the nation for the largest growth in inequality between the richest and poorest families. In RI, the very richest families — top 5% — have average incomes 13.0 times as large as the poorest 20% of families. The study documents and examines income inequality at the state level in three periods – the late 1980s, the late 1990s, and the mid-2000s. For more information, dowload the executive summary and the full report and the press release.

Who Are America's Poor Children? The Official Story
This fact sheet details some of the characteristics of  American children that are officially poor and highlights the details of  the widely used but flawed standards that define economic disadvantage.

Task Force Presents Findings to Mayor
November 1, 2007 - Mayor Cicilline's Poverty, Work and Opportunity Task Force, facilitated by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT by Executive Order, released its recommendations to the Mayor at a news conference. View the report, news release and findings from resident focus groups conducted to inform the work of the Task Force.

Release of the Child Poverty in Rhode Island Issue Brief
October 17, 2007 - Downlaod the new Issue Brief: Child Poverty in Rhode Island. This Issue Brief provides updated data on the children living in poverty in Rhode Island.

The Housing Bond: One-Year Status Report
This HousingWorks RI Issue Brief is a status report on the bond referendum approved by Rhode Islanders a year ago to provide $50 million over four years to create affordable apartments and starter homes for Rhode Islanders.

Numerous State and Local Housing Policies Can Help Working Families
August 7, 2007 - Increasing the Availability of Affordable Homes: An Analysis of High-Impact State and Local Solutions, a new analysis conducted by the Center for Housing Policy, identifies promising strategies that states and localities can adopt to expand the availability of homes affordable to families who live or work in their communities.

Early Education A Remedy for Societal Inequities?
August 7, 2007 - The Educational Testing Service report, America's Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation's Future, details the rising inequities in wages and wealth that will ultimately affect the cohesiveness of society and our standard of living. The authors identify disparities in the distribution of skills, economic restructuring and demographic trends related to immigration and an aging society as the three forces that must be addressed with sound policies.While ETS plans to issue its recommendations in a separate paper, it has identified education of children as one area to be addressed.

18th Annual 2007 KIDS COUNT Data Book
July 25, 2007 - The Annie E. Casey Foundation released the 18th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the U.S. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children. This year’s essay examines the child welfare system and challenges the country to make lifelong connections for children and youth in foster care a national priority. Read the Rhode Island pages in the Data Book, the RI Fact Sheet and Press Release or browse the KIDS COUNT Data Book.

HousingWorks RI releases 2007 Fact Book
June 19, 2007 - According to the report, housing remains out of reach for most young Rhode Islanders and RI lags behind the ten fastest-growing communities in the nation in housing affordability. Download the PDF, or read the press release.

Federal Minimum Wage Increased
June 2007 - The federal minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $7.25 was finally signed into law by the President. The first step of the increase from $5.15 to $5.85 will occur on July 24, 2007. The second step to $6.55 will occur on July 24, 2008 and the final step will be to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. To see how the federal minimum wage increase will impact each state’s minimum wage rates, read this Issue Brief.

Ending Homelessness in Rhode Island: The Supportive Housing Approach
May 29, 2007 - Homelessness is at an all-time high in Rhode Island. This Issue Brief discusses one effective solution -- known as "supportive housing."

RI is Number One, Best in the Nation for Percentage of Women Receiving Timely Prenatal Care
May 23, 2007 - The online report, The Right Start for America’s Newborns: City and State Trends, which tracks U.S. birth information across states and the 50 largest cities has been updated. This year the report includes the percent of babies born to foreign born mothers for states and cities as well as national data on birth outcomes by race and ethnicity.

 
Guide Updated For Cover The Uninsured Week
April 23-29, 2007 - Health Care Coverage in America: Understanding the Issues and Proposed Solutions provides an overview of how Americans get health coverage, why so many don't have coverage, and what could be done to ease the problem. The 24-page guide, updated for Cover the Uninsured Week includes graphs, a glossary of health-coverage terms, and links to sources of additional information. To locate events being held across America, discover ways to get involved, learn more about SCHIP or read about the issue, log on to www.CoverTheUninsured.org.

New Task Force on Poverty, Work and Opportunity Created in Providence
April 2007 - At his inauguration, Mayor David N. Cicilline announced the creation of the Providence Poverty, Work and Opportunity Task Force. Rhode Island KIDS COUNT will serve as consultant to this project: facilitating meetings, conducting research, and compiling the final report of the Task Force. Meeting materials and other resources are now available online.

2006 Rhode Island Standard of Need
January 30, 2007 - The Poverty Institute finds that it costs $50,000 a year to live and raise a family in Rhode Island. What a family needs to earn depends largely on whether they are eligible for tax credits and work supports like child care and health care subsidies. Download the 2006 Rhode Island Standard of Need.

Over Half of Low-Income Children Live With a Parent Who Works Regularly
November 2006 - Over Half of Low-Income Children Live With a Parent Who Works Regularly, the third Data Snapshot in the KIDS COUNT series, highlights the latest data on the large number of children living in low-income working families in the United States. The data in this Snapshot and more than 100 other indicators of child well-being can be found in the KIDS COUNT State-Level Data Online System.

New TANF Regulations Under the Deficit Reduction Act
On June 29, 2006, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued regulations regarding the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. These regulations were required as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Download the highlights from the interim final rules.

Rhode Island Child Support Advisory Committee
The Office of Child Support Services in partnership with leaders in the community has formed the Child Support Advisory Committee. This Committee seeks to enhance the well-being of children by assuring that assistance in obtaining support, including financial and medical, is available to children in Rhode Island. The Child Support Advisory Committee meets the first Tuesday of every month. For more information about the committee or how to become a participant contact Kat Keenan at kkeenan@rikidscount.org.

"Bill would overhaul R.I. energy policies"
According to this article by Timothy C. Barmann on June 23, 2006, the House and Senate leaders introduced a major energy bill yesterday that establishes a heating assistance program for low-income families, a ratepayer-financed natural gas conservation program and a new council to represent the interests of ratepayers in utility cases before the Public Utilities Commission.

50 State Data Wizards at the National Center for Children in Poverty
This online data tool provides information about state and federal policies that assist low-income families and children, including policy rules and recipient and spending data, state statistics on the income status, education level, family structure and employment status of families and children.

When Work Doesn't Pay: What Every Policymaker Should Know
This brief informs policymakers and others about the difficulties faced by low-income working parents as they strive to make progress in the workforce. Based on results from NCCP’s Family Resource Simulator, When Work Doesn't Pay highlights ways in which the current structure of work support policies often leads to unintended consequences.

Stabilizing Coverage for Children and Families
This new Fund report examines the extent, causes, and consequences of instability in public coverage programs for children and families, and presents strategies to stabilize public program coverage. Findings are drawn from a variety of sources, including national and state-based studies, roundtable discussions and interviews with stakeholders and experts, and an examination of the affect of state and local policies on instability and churning in four states: Louisiana, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington.

Issue Brief: Food Stamps: A Comprehensive Food Assistance Program provides information about the significance of the Food Stamp Program in helping low-income families and individuals purchase and consume nutritious foods. Almost half of all food stamp recipients in Rhode Island are children.