Investments in families’ economic security are critical measures to furthering equity statewide for Black, Latinx, and Native American families, families from low-income backgrounds, and immigrant families. We advocate for poverty-reduction policies that will provide economic stability for families, such as improving access to child care subsidies, food, and housing benefits, an expanded Empire State Child Tax Credit, and more. Our team also collaborates with the NY Can End Child Poverty coalition and the Governor’s Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council, which is charged with finding solutions to cut child poverty in half in New York State by 2032.

Far too many New York families do not benefit from local, state, and federal support they need to raise healthy and thriving children due to systemic barriers standing in their way. These hurdles are especially steep for Black and Latinx families, immigrants, and other historically marginalized groups.

Across child care and public benefit programs, we found striking similarities in terms of the barriers that were most pernicious in limiting families’ access to resources, such as lack of information; difficulty applying for and securing benefits; and program-specific limitations.