Data from Columbia's Center on Poverty and Social Policy reveals increase in child poverty after tax credit expired

Upper West Side NY

03 March, 2022

4:17 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY ADAM FROMMER AND EMILY FORGASH FEBRUARY 28, 2022 The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the Columbia School of Social Work found that child poverty in the United States increased by 41 percent from December 2021 to January 2022 after expiration of the monthly child tax credit, according to a report released recently. During the period of its disbursement, the credit distributed between $250 and $300 per child to eligible families monthly under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. When it was first introduced in July, the number of children in poverty decreased by roughly 3 million. "In terms of policy successes, that's not … normally the speed at which we see these types of gains," Megan Curran, the policy director at CPSP, said. After the credit's expiration, child poverty escalated from 8.9 million to 12.6 million in just one month. Now that Congress has failed to renew the monthly child tax credit, some lawmakers are trying to revive it. While the CPSP does not advocate for particular legislation, data from its recent report indicates potential benefits of reimplementing the increased monthly child tax credit. "It's not actually a question of figuring out some brilliant new approach. We actually do know what to do," Curran said. "Getting flexible cash on a regular basis to families without a lot of barriers and strings attached can make a real difference for kids up and down the income distribution. … That makes a really strong case and [is] hard for policymakers to ignore." Columbia's research has played a critical role in informing national policies throughout the pandemic. Jeffrey Shaman, GSAS '00, GSAS '02, GSAS '03, director of the Climate and Health Program at the Mailman School of Public Health, wrote in a May 2020 report about how an earlier lockdown in March 2020 could have prevented a majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Experts like virologist Angela Rasmussan, GSAS '09, and Dr. Irwin Redlener, the founding director at Columbia's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, have also brought their expertise to a wider audience by speaking with media outlets like CNN. Much of the CPSP's work focuses on assessing poverty in New York City. Since 2012, the Center has surveyed a representative sample of approximately 4,000 New Yorkers every three months to gather data on income poverty, material hardship, and health. To help in its work, CPSP employs undergraduate research assistants. Rizwan Kazi, CC '24, an undergraduate research assistant at CPSP, sifts through data collected from New York City surveys for the Poverty Tracker, a joint project between Columbia and Robin Hood, a New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to lifting families out of poverty. "[The Poverty Tracker] is definitely one of the best ways that both faculty and researchers, along with undergraduates and graduate students, actively contribute to the New York City community and beyond," Kazi said. The CPSP began reporting monthly on national child poverty in 2020 to provide more timely data than the official U.S. census poverty statistics, which are released annually. Researchers at CPSP wanted to study the impact of pandemic policy changes on families at economic risk to provide real-time data for policymakers. "We want evidence and information and data to be as available as possible to decision makers so that they can feel like they're making really informed arguments and decisions," Curran said. "Having information coming out a couple years down the road can be really difficult." Staff writer Adam Frommer can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @adamfrommer. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.