What a Moment!

With a stroke of his pen, President Biden just signed the American Rescue Plan. A year after the pandemic began, the help so many Americans desperately need is finally on the way. Included in this landmark legislation, which FUTURES worked hard to help shape, are measures that will make women and children, our communities and our country, safer. It will:  

• Dramatically reduce child poverty, perhaps by as much as half, through child and earned income tax credits;
• Give millions of struggling people a desperately needed cash infusion of $1,400 per adult, and extended unemployment benefits;
• Make COVID-19 vaccine access more equitable, focusing on communities of color, which have suffered disproportionately in the pandemic;
• Reduce the costs of health insurance premiums purchased through the Affordable Care Act and help states expand health care to those who lost jobs in the pandemic and improve maternal health care;
• Provide food and nutrition for babies, children, and families;
• Provide housing and utility assistance so families don’t become homeless; and
• Help schools welcome back students and provide mental health services for those who have experienced trauma and violence.

Your partnership with FUTURES also helped secure $450 million directly for victims of domestic and sexual violence, including:

• $180 million for domestic violence shelters and services;
• Almost $200 million for rape crisis centers and other sexual assault services;
• Almost $50 million for culturally specific programs; and
• Nearly $20 million for Tribes.

FUTURES also helped win $250 million for community-based child abuse prevention programs.

Over the next few months FUTURES will work to ensure these resources get into the hands of survivors of violence and vulnerable families. While these resources are time-limited and these policy changes temporary, we will work with the Biden-Harris Administration and leaders in Congress to make them a springboard to a new society in which we make it a priority to prevent abuse and heal all those who experience violence and trauma.

Our vision of a future without violence, where all communities have safety, justice, and hope, is closer to reality today. Thank you for making this happen. We look forward to working together on the next steps!
 

With gratitude,  Esta Soler Founder & President