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.
Report Health Care for California’s Jail Population By Shannon McConville, Mia Bird Jun 18, 2014 The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has created a new opportunity for California to reach and enroll a medically vulnerable population—the jail population—in health insurance coverage. While inmates receive health care services from county jail systems while incarcerated, few have coverage after they are released from custody. Expansion of the state’s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) under the ACA has extended insurance eligibility to much of the currently uninsured jail population. As a complement to the ACA, California recently signed into law Assembly Bill 720 (AB 720), which facilitates the use of jails as sites of health insurance enrollment. Increasing enrollment levels for the jail population holds the potential to reduce corrections costs, as well as improve public health and safety.
Report CalWORKs in Transition By Caroline Danielson Mar 20, 2012 In recent years, California policymakers have made a number of cuts to major safety net programs to help balance the state budget—even as hard economic times have meant that increasing numbers of Californians are relying on government assistance. The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program (CalWORKs) has been one of the most affected.1 Since 2009, CalWORKs has seen a number of cuts, some intended to be short-lived, and others that, arguably, are reshaping the program piece by piece. In his January 2012 budget proposal, Governor Brown advocated significant additional cuts. These recent and proposed changes raise questions about the program’s goals going forward.
Fact Sheet The State-County Fiscal Relationship in California By Caroline Danielson, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Nov 18, 2011
Fact Sheet The State-Local Fiscal Relationship By Dean Misczynski, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Oct 27, 2011
Report Federal Formula Grants: Federal Child Care Programs By Tim Ransdell, Shervin Boloorian Jun 30, 2005 The fast-growing, multibillion dollar federal child care financing system provides resources primarily to low- and moderate-income families to subsidize child care services and activities. With women entering the workforce in record numbers in recent years, government-supported public and private child care networks have come to serve as an economic aid for growing numbers of working families, including federal welfare recipients. Studies monitoring the effect of child care services indicate that the availability of such services can measurably increase the likelihood that a welfare family will successfully transition from government assistance to self-sufficiency. This report reviews federal child care programs and the formulas used to distribute child care assistance funds to states, discusses California’s child care receipts under the current formula framework, compares the state’s experience to that of other states, and considers the effect of key child care reauthorization proposals in Congress on child care financing policies.
