Families with low income often do not have access to the basic necessities and resources to foster the nurturing experiences and stimulating environments that young children need to thrive. Income supports may reduce poverty in households with young children, provide critical resources to help families support children’s development, diminish families’ stress levels, and thereby advance health equity. This grant funded research on income supports for low-income families with young children, including tax credits and transfer programs, to inform policymaking and encourage more equitable access to these supports.
Increasing access to early care and education (ECE) may reduce poverty in households with young children by supporting parental employment; provide critical resources to help families support children’s development; diminish families’ stress levels; and thereby advance health equity. This grant sought to fund research that highlighted policy- and practice-related reasons for disparities in access to ECE, and which identified current policy or programmatic solutions or needed changes that would promote equity.
A key contributor to children’s healthy development is sufficient access to healthy foods, though research demonstrates that children from low-income households and racial and ethnic minority children experience nutritional disparities. This grant funded research on federal nutrition support programs that serve low-income families with young children, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
This grant funded a body of research that illuminates strategies and policies that ensure families’ equitable access to key resources for supporting their children’s healthy development. The cross-cutting grants fund research that cut across policy domains, revealing the way that ECE access, income supports, and nutrition supports interact and potentially reinforce one another to promote families’ well being.
Hetling, A., S. Holcomb, D. Seith, and J. Roman. "An Equity Analysis of Applying for Welfare: TANF Application and Denial Reasons by Individual, Case, and County Characteristics." Presentation at the virtual Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management Annual Fall Conference, November 2020.
Please contact ahetling@rutgers.edu for additional information about this product.
Lanier, P., W. Afonso, G. Chung, K. Bryant, A. Coffey, A. Brown-Grahm, and S. Verbiest. "Demographic, Economic, and Geographic Factors Associated with Uptake of the Earned Income Tax Credit." Journal of Policy and Practice Research, vol. 3, April 2022, pp. 241-258.
Jordan Institute for Families. "Tax Preparation, Rurality, and the EITC." Chapel Hill, NC: Jordan Institute for Families, UNC School of Social Work, 2021.
UNC School of Government, ncIMPACT Initiative. "Creating Approaches for Understanding EITC Uptake in Rural North Carolina." Chapel Hill, NC: ncIMPACT Initiative, UNC School of Government, 2020.
Please contact sarah_verbiest@med.unc.edu for additional information about this product.
Efrid, L. "Tax Credit Preparation and the Earned Income Tax Credit in Rural America." ncIMPACT Initiative, University of North Carolina School of Government, 2021.
Ballentine, K., S. Goodkind, and J. Shook. "Using Life History Calendars to Understand the Benefits Cliff Among Lower-Wage Parents." Abstract for presentation at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Annual Fall Conference, March 2022.
Please contact sara.goodkind@pitt.edu for additional information about this product.
Ballentine, K., S. Goodkind, J. Shook, E. Gomez, and N. Patel. "Examining How Raises Affect Public Benefits Access for Lower Wage Workers in the Era of the Fight for $15." Abstract for presentation at the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Meeting, January 2022.
Please contact sara.goodkind@pitt.edu for additional information about this product.
Ballentine, Kess L., Sara Goodkind, Jeffrey Shook, and Hollen Tillman. "Research Brief: Earned Income Tax Credit Access." Pittsburgh Wage Study, University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, November 2021.
Ballentine, K., S. Goodkind, and J. Shook. "How Low-Paid Parents Navigate The Complex Financial Landscape Of Benefits Cliffs And Disincentive Deserts." Health Affairs, vol. 41, no. 12, December 2022.
Hahn, H., E. Maag, T. Anderson, A. Coffey, and H. Daly. "How Benefit Cliffs Affect Low-Income Working Families' Decisions: Findings from a Mixed-Methods Analysis of Three States." Findings Summary Briefing, November 8, 2021.
Please contact hhahn@urban.org for additional information about this product.