blog post Steep Declines in Child Poverty Have Been Driven by Safety Net Programs By Caroline Danielson Oct 26, 2022 During the first two years of the pandemic, government interventions not only avoided an increase in poverty overall but also dramatically reduced poverty among children, according to the California Poverty Measure.
blog post California’s Most Isolated Seniors By Hans Johnson Apr 17, 2020 Among older Californians, the risk of social isolation during COVID-19 is especially great for those who live alone and lack internet access.
Fact Sheet The CalFresh Food Assistance Program By Caroline Danielson, Daniel Tan Sep 1, 2020 Participation in CalFresh—which helps millions of low-income Californians buy groceries—has risen amid the coronavirus pandemic. This fact sheet provides a snapshot of the program, including its impact on poverty and recent changes to expand access.
Fact Sheet Racial Disparities in California Arrests By Magnus Lofstrom, Justin Goss, Joseph Hayes, Brandon Martin Oct 14, 2019 Racial disparities in arrests have narrowed—but they are still prevalent across the state. Disparities tend to be larger in more affluent and less diverse counties.
blog post Testimony: The Role of State Tax Credits in Helping Low-Income Families By Caroline Danielson Oct 3, 2022 For a hearing of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, PPIC’s Caroline Danielson discussed how the California Earned Income Tax Credit and the Young Child Tax Credit help mitigate poverty—and potential strategies for increasing uptake.
blog post 2023 Year in Review By Tani Cantil-Sakauye Dec 14, 2023 President and CEO Tani Cantil-Sakauye reflects on how PPIC has contributed to the policy conversation this past year and highlights the importance of nonpartisan, actionable research in addressing key challenges facing our state.
blog post California’s New Leaders Focus on Poverty By David Lesher Oct 7, 2014 Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Senator Kevin de León, who will take over as senate president pro tem later this month, each told a Sacramento audience about growing up in poverty and the role it has played in their shared view of the state’s responsibility to those in need.
blog post The COVID-19 Crisis Is Affecting Low-Income Workers By Caroline Danielson Mar 19, 2020 As California responds to the coronavirus, low-income workers across the state will be deeply affected by the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Report Improving California Children’s Participation in Nutrition Programs By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn Dec 12, 2016 Food and nutrition assistance programs help children gain access to adequate amounts of nutritious food—reducing child hunger and food insecurity as well as promoting healthy development. Yet in California, enrollment varies widely across counties and across the main nutrition programs that serve children: CalFresh, popularly known as food stamps; the WIC program, which serves infants and preschool-age children; and school meals, which include lunch and often other meals. Increasing children’s enrollment in CalFresh and achieving healthier outcomes for Californians are priorities for the state. The governor’s January 2016 budget set a goal of enrolling 400,000 more eligible children in CalFresh over two years. This report assesses children’s eligibility for CalFresh and eligible children’s participation in the three main nutrition programs to explore opportunities for improving enrollment and the benefits of higher enrollment. Key findings include: CalFresh has lower enrollment than free school meals and WIC. In 2015, 24 percent of all California children participated in CalFresh, while more than twice as many age-eligible children (51%) were enrolled in free school meals; 44 percent of infants and 34 percent of young children were enrolled in WIC. There is substantial potential to expand the impact of nutrition programs. We estimate that if all CalFresh-eligible children were fully enrolled in both CalFresh and either free school meals or WIC, these programs would reach 1.6 million more children. Infants and young children are better connected to nutrition programs. Among CalFresh-eligible children, we find that 12 percent of public school students participate in neither CalFresh nor free school meals—more than a quarter million school children (331,000). In contrast, only 4 percent of infants (21,000) and 9 percent of young children (87,000) are disconnected from both CalFresh and WIC. Higher participation in nutrition programs would lower child poverty. Among public school students living in poverty, we project that full participation in nutrition programs would increase family resources by 15 percent. Among infants and young children living in poverty, we project that family resources would increase by 9 percent following full participation in nutrition programs. To some extent, lower CalFresh enrollment reflects more restrictive eligibility requirements. However, there is good reason to believe that more children participating in free school meals and WIC could be connected to CalFresh. Currently, most policies designed to integrate nutrition programs run from CalFresh to school meals. Building robust, two-way connections could help counties and the state better achieve the goals of these programs so more children have access to adequate, nutritious food.