"In 2007, 10.6% of Connecticut children under 18 (85,530 children) lived in a family with income below the federal poverty level ($21.027 for a two-parent family with two children). This data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) represents no improvement from the 2004 level (10.1%)."
-- from "Child Poverty in Connecticut," a 2009 report from the Commission on Children |
|
|
| |
 |
A timeline of state action to reduce
child poverty
Starting in 2004, when it adopted legislation that set a
goal of reducing childhood poverty by 50 percent in 10
years, Connecticut has taken a number of steps to attack childhood poverty.
View the timeline |
|
|
| |
 | Connecticut's
plan for reducing child poverty
This PowerPoint presentation gives an overview of Connecticut's efforts in recent years to reduce childhood poverty. There's also data on the impact of poverty. Download the PDF |
|
|
| |
 | Towns and cities could get $8.25 million in federal job-training dollars under SNAP E&T
So far, more than half the communities in Connecticut have applied to participate in SNAP E&T, and it's easy to understand why: The federal government would provide a 50-cent match for every dollar they spent on services to help food stamp recipients find regular employment.
See who's participating | Learn more about SNAP E&T |
|
|
| |
 | Children in the recession: A legislative task force
The Commission hosted a June 16,
2009 forum where Speaker of the House Christopher G. Donovan announced the formation of a legislative task force to address the needs of children affected by the recession. The forum also featured presentations from national experts, who warned that virtually all of the progress made in children’s economic well-being since 1975 is likely to be wiped out by the downturn.
Event documents, video, and photos |
|
|
| |
 |
Child poverty could be reduced by 35 percent under new
economic model
The Urban Institute, asked by the state Child
Poverty and Prevention Council to identify which of the top
recommendations before the Council would yield the greatest
reduction in child poverty, has developed an economic model
showing that five of them could reduce child poverty in
Connecticut by 35 percent.
Read the Institute's report (PDF) |
Urban
Institute home page |
|
|
| |
.jpg) | The Federal Stimulus Package: What’s in It for Children and Families?
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has given Connecticut an opportunity to work in new and creative ways to help families address some of the challenges created by the recession. The Commission
held a discussion on the matter on March 10, 2009.
Learn more |
|
|
| |
 | Smart Investments in Hard Times: A Report on Connecticut's Children
On January 13, 2009, the Commission heard a panel of experts discuss the importance of continuing to invest in Connecticut's children despite these hard economic times.
Watch video clips |
|
|
| |
.jpg) | Child Poverty in Connecticut
Among the statistics in this January 2009 fact sheet
from the Commission: A survey of kindergarten teachers in Connecticut's low-income school districts revealed that 75% of children who did not attend preschool arrived at kindergarten lacking basic language and literacy skills, such as being able to use complete sentences, to respond when spoken to, to identify their name in print, or to recognize the first 10 letters of the alphabet.
Download the PDF |
|
|
| |
 | What are the best ways to reduce child poverty?
That was the question addressed on December 7,
2007, when the state Poverty and Prevention Council heard from a panel of national experts. The Council had received 67 recommendations for reducing child poverty in Connecticut over the next 10 years, and the experts identified the ones they thought would make the greatest impact.
Download the experts' report (PDF)
Download the 67 recommendations (See Section VI) (PDF) |
|
|
| |
 |
Investing in children through prevention
Public Act 06-179 gives all state agencies
that serve children and families the goal of allocating at
least 10 percent of their budgets to prevention services by
2020. It requires the governor to report on progress toward
this goal as part of the state's biennial prevention budget.
The Act also merged the state's Child Poverty and Prevention
councils to create a new Child Poverty and Prevention
Council, tying the concept of prevention to poverty
reduction.
Learn more |
|
|
| |
The Child Poverty and Prevention Council
The Council, charged with developing a plan to reduce child poverty by 50 percent by July 1, 2014 and issuing annual progress reports (see above), has a home page on the website of the state Office of Policy and Management. It includes a list of members, progress reports, and meeting materials.
Visit the Council's home page |
| |
P.A. 04-238: An Act Concerning Child Poverty
Signed into Connecticut law in 2004, the Act established a Child Poverty Council and assigned it the task of developing a plan to reduce the number of children living in poverty in Connecticut by 50 percent by July 1, 2014. The council was required to submit the plan to various legislative committees by January 1, 2005 and then report annually on its implementation. (Links to these documents are below.) Legislation adopted in 2006 merged the Council with the state Prevention Council, to strengthen the nexus between poverty and prevention investments.
Summary of P.A. 04-238 | Text of the Act | Legislative history |
| |
| This page was last updated:
October 15, 2009 |
| |
Site Map
