Summary of Findings: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutritional support for income-eligible families, most of whom have working adults. However, as families increase their income, they may experience a reduction or loss of SNAP benefits that leaves them with fewer overall resources. Children’s HealthWatch research demonstrated that working families that increased their income […]
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and Children’s HealthWatch have conducted the following Health Impact Assessment to estimate the potential health-related impacts of creating a state-level, refundable Earned Income Tax Credit for the approximately 300,000 qualifying low-income Arkansas households. This Health Impact Assessment also identifies appropriate actions to manage those effects.
Given the importance of promoting solutions that ensure all children live in stable homes, Children’s HealthWatch partnered with Mission Partners to develop an advocacy toolkit that makes a compelling connection between the importance of safe, stable homes with the health and wellbeing of children and their families. Though the connection between housing, mental health and […]
Stable homes are vital for good health. Research demonstrates children’s health improves when their families are able to live in homes they can afford without falling behind on rent, moving frequently, or experiencing homelessness. Unfortunately, Massachusetts has a shortage of affordable rental homes across the state. For every 100 families with extremely low incomes* in […]
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) improves the health and well-being of children and lifts families out of poverty across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Currently, however, not all families in Massachusetts are eligible to claim the state EITC, despite living and working in the Commonwealth. These families include immigrants who file taxes using an Individual […]
This report card examines children’ weight over time. We looked at almost 3,000 infants and toddlers from low-income families who started life in a healthy state – born at a healthy birth weight and at term. Most children remained at a healthy weight at both visits (on average 1 year apart). Children with an unhealthy […]
Access to affordable health care is important for young children and their parents’ overall health. When health care services are affordable, children are more able to access needed care, including preventive services such as well child visits and immunizations. Optimal child health is best achieved when parents are also in good health. But parents’ health […]
The basic needs of all Arkansas families — a stable home; nutritious food; heating, cooling or electricity; and access to affordable health care — are deeply interwoven. In this report we focus on several policy solutions that address the financial cost of health care and its inherently intertwined relationship with the overall household budget. Systematically […]