Spread the word » Facebook Twitter
ACNJ Press Release

To view this email in your web browser click here.

Advocates for Children of New Jersey
NEWS
Report: Take dual approach to ending child poverty

For Immediate Release
November 12, 2014


Contact: Nancy Parello | (908) 399-6031 | nparello@acnj.org

With more than half of New Jersey’s children living in families where no parent is fully employed, a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation calls for a comprehensive effort to lift children and families out of poverty.

The report focuses on the importance of delivering high-quality early childhood education, while simultaneously providing parents with access to job training, career paths and other tools that enable them to support their families.

The KIDS COUNT® policy report, Creating Opportunity for Families: A Two-Generation Approach, outlines how the public, nonprofit and private sectors must work together to reduce poverty among the 10 million low-income families with young children in the United States. The recommendations propose integrating state and federal employment, education and child care programs for parents and children to create better opportunities for the entire family.

“We hope this report will spark deep commitment in Washington and in board rooms across the country to remove the obstacles that prevent millions of families from putting their kids on a path to success,” said Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation. “For too long, our approach to poverty has focused separately on children and adults, instead of their interrelated needs. We’ve learned a lot about what works in separate areas, but we’re not combining these lessons to break the cycle of poverty.”

“In New Jersey, we have long recognized the importance of quality child care and preschool to children’s healthy development and to families’ economic security,” said Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of Advocates for Children of New Jersey. “This report takes the next step by connecting parents’ ability to find good, stable, full-time jobs with their child’s early learning experiences and subsequent success in school and in life.

“New Jersey’s policymakers should examine the strategies identified in this report to address challenges so that parents can fully nurture and support their children and, ultimately, build better futures for themselves, their children and the communities where they live,” Zalkind added.

The report found that in 2012 more than half of New Jersey children age eight and under live in families where no parent has full-time year-round employment, while 79 percent of these children live in families where no parent has an associate degree or higher. This is consistent with national trends.

Twenty-eight percent of New Jersey children under age five in low-income families have parents with concerns about their development, while 17 percent say child care concerns has affected their employment – also consistent with national data.

The report outlines three broad recommendations:

Create policies that equip parents and children with the income, tools and skills they need to succeed — as a family and as individuals. State and federal governments should strengthen policies that expand job-training, educational and career opportunities, adopt policies that give parents more flexibility at work, such as paid time off, increase the Child Tax Credit for low-income parents of very young children and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to increase the income of noncustodial parents.

Put common sense into common practice by structuring public systems to respond to the realities facing today’s families. State and federal governments should promote collaboration and align policies and programs through interagency commissions and innovation funds.  For example, child- and adult-focused state agencies should consolidate their data to look at the whole family. Federal policymakers could take advantage of new legislation and reauthorization periods for Head Start and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, among others, to bring together child and adult programs.

Use existing child, adult and neighborhood programs and platforms to build evidence for practical pathways out of poverty for entire families. Early childhood, K-12, home-visiting, job-training and supportive housing programs could partner with one another to connect parents with financial coaching, job-readiness assistance, education and other tools to achieve financial stability, while also ensuring their children have access to high-quality care and schooling.

Additional information is available in the KIDS COUNT Data Center, which also contains the most recent national, state and local data on hundreds of indicators of child well-being. The Data Center allows users to create rankings, maps and graphs for use in publications and on websites, and to view real-time information on mobile devices.

###

The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s children by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work and grow. For more information, visit www.aecf.org. KIDS COUNT® is a registered trademark of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Advocates for Children of New Jersey is a statewide, non-profit child action and research organization dedicated to ensuring that every child has the chance to grow up safe, healthy and educated.


© 2014 Advocates for Children of New Jersey. All Rights Reserved.