blog post Health Care Reform in California: An Update By Laurel Beck Nov 14, 2014 Beginning tomorrow, many Californians will be able to enroll in or switch health insurance plans through the state’s insurance exchange.
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.
blog post Testimony: Poverty and the Safety Net By Sarah Bohn Feb 27, 2014 PPIC research fellow Sarah Bohn testified Wednesday before the Assembly Budget Subcommittee for Health and Human Services. She described recent poverty trends and the impact of anti-poverty programs in California.
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.
Report Child Care Price Dynamics in California By Margaret O’Brien-Strain, Grecia Marrufo, Helen Oliver Dec 17, 2003 Although expenditures on child care subsidies in California rose from $125 million in 1992 to $1.5 billion in 2001, some 200,000 children in California are still on the waiting list for child care vouchers, and many families are eligible for assistance but unaware that they qualify for it. In Child Care Price Dynamics in California, Grecia Marrufo, Margaret O’Brien-Strain, and Helen Oliver examine California’s child care market in light of these recent policy changes. They document double-digit increases in real child care prices, significant price variation by region, and stable earnings for child care workers. They also conclude that state subsidies, which accounted for roughly 20 percent of gross receipts in the California child care market in the 1990s, put significant upward pressure on child care prices.
press release Many Families Rise Above Poverty Line After Leaving Welfare, But Conditions for Others Are Bleak Sep 11, 2003
