blog post Testimony: Measuring Poverty in California By Sarah Bohn Jan 8, 2014 On the 50th anniversary of President Johnson's declaration of a "War on Poverty," the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee held a hearing about California's food stamp program, known as CalFresh.
blog post In El Dorado County, Early Preparation and Communication Were Key to the Return to School By Laura Hill, Mary Severance Jul 23, 2021 We talked with Dr. Ed Manansala, superintendent of schools for El Dorado County, about how his mostly rural districts weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and handled the return to in-person instruction.
blog post Many Low-Income Families Left Out of Federal Stimulus Benefits By Tess Thorman, Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn Apr 24, 2020 Federal stimulus checks during COVID-19 will reach an estimated four of five California families, but many of the lowest income families won’t get assistance.
Report Child Poverty and the Social Safety Net in California By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn Sep 29, 2014 Because economic hardship is associated with a host of adverse outcomes, particularly for children, policies that can give children a better start in life are especially important. This report focuses on measuring material hardship among children across the state. Using the California Poverty Measure—which accounts for both family earnings and safety net resources and adjusts for work expenses and housing costs—we find that one-quarter of California’s children are in poverty. An additional 26 percent of children live in households that are "near poor,” or somewhat above what is often referred to as the poverty line. In short, about half of California’s children are poor or near-poor. Poverty rates, earnings, and the role of safety net resources all vary by region. But most poor children live in "working poor” families, with one or more working adults. And, without resources from the social safety net—which includes the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, CalFresh (California’s food stamp program), CalWORKs (California’s welfare program), and housing subsidies—there would be far more children in poverty throughout California.