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Testimony: Measuring Poverty

By Sarah Bohn

New and more comprehensive measures update a definition of poverty that is now more than 50 years old.

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High Poverty Rate Persists

By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn

Although the state’s economy has rebounded, the latest poverty statistics suggest there’s been little improvement in the share of Californians struggling to make ends meet.

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A California Earned Income Tax Credit

By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn, Sara Kimberlin

The governor’s proposed state Earned Income Tax Credit adds to the mix of strategies policymakers are considering to address the state’s poverty rate—the highest in the nation when the cost of living is accounted for.

Report

Child Poverty and the Social Safety Net in California

By Caroline Danielson, Sarah Bohn

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.

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Testimony: Poverty and the Safety Net

By Sarah Bohn

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.

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Testimony: Californians and Poverty

By Mark Baldassare

Hello, my name is Mark Baldassare and I am the president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. Thank you for the opportunity to speak as you launch this timely, historic, and "EPIC” effort to address poverty in California.

blog post

Testimony: Measuring Poverty in California

By Sarah Bohn

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.

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