Could California End Childhood Poverty?
“To systemically attack the roots of child poverty, the plan focuses on seven main areas of policy: health care, housing, workforce/education, early childhood, special populations (like foster children), the general public-assistance system, and coordinating anti-poverty services. Perhaps most impactful of these policies—and most innovative—is a refundable, targeted child tax credit (TCTC) that would, each month, directly transfer cash into the pockets of families with children in deep poverty. (The design also takes costs of living in different areas of the state into account and supports parents’ working efforts by, for example, disregarding some earned income.) Essentially, the TCTC is a guaranteed income for extremely poor families with children.”