Government Programs Have Helped Over a Million Texas Children Out of Poverty
Over the past decade, Texas has become one of the worst states to be a kid. Texas ranks 43rd in overall child well-being, with more than a quarter of Texas children, or 1.7 million kids, that are currently living in poverty.
However, a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation has found that that number would have been much higher had it not been for federal and state poverty programs. According to the report, 1.2 million fewer Texas children are experiencing poverty thanks to state and federal poverty programs. That translates to 17 percentage points less than the Texas child poverty rate would have been without government programs.
The report cites the positive effects of “economic opportunity tools like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit [and]other bedrock programs like Social Security, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and housing subsidies” for alleviating poverty and improving families’ financial stability.
The report used the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to examine the effect of anti-poverty programs in Texas. This measure supplements the official poverty measure, which was created in the 1960s and is considered by many to be inaccurate and outdated in the way it estimates the level of family income needed to get by. The official measure also does not account for differences in the cost of living between different areas of the country.
Read more: http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/29802/government-programs-helped-million-texas-children-poverty
= new reply since forum marked as read
