July 19, 2021 Voices for Illinois Children Releases 2021 Illinois KIDS COUNT® Report In our 2021 Illinois KIDS COUNT® Report, Voices for Illinois Children – Powered by YWCA Metropolitan Chicago – explores child poverty prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report shows that Illinois children had long been going without the resources they need before the pandemic ever arrived, and that “going back to normal” after the pandemic ends will seriously shortchange children and their families for years to come. The report uses a measure of multidimensional poverty to determine which factors in Illinoisans’ lives contribute the most to poverty. The measure of multidimensional poverty differs from more conventional methods of poverty estimation because it takes factors other than household income and family size into account, including housing cost burdens, educational attainment, and health insurance.  While the Illinois child poverty rate (100% of the federal poverty level) in 2018 was 16%, Voices estimates more than 25% of Illinois children lived with at least one adult in multidimensional poverty in 2018. This suggests that there are many more children affected by multidimensional poverty that are not captured in more conventional measures of poverty (such as the Official Poverty Measure or Supplemental Poverty Measure). Analyzing poverty’s multiple dimensions reveals the extent of poverty’s impact on Illinois children and underscores the need to take action to address poverty now. To stem the short- and long-term effects of poverty, unemployment, hunger, and homelessness that existed before the pandemic and worsened for many during it, Voices recommends that legislators at both the state and federal levels implement the following policies: - Indexing Illinois’ minimum wage increase to inflation.
- Expanding eligibility for the state’s earned income tax credit (EITC).
- Establishing a state child tax credit in Illinois.
- Creating higher paying jobs with investments in green energy.
- Implementing universal child cash benefits at the federal level, particularly to those who live below the poverty level.
- Expanding the availability of affordable housing for low-income renters.
- Establishing a state renter’s tax credit.
- Increasing funding for early childhood education.
- Enhancing the state’s Monetary Award Program to make college more affordable to more of the state’s residents.
 Join us next week for a webinar where Voices, Housing Action Illinois, and the Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics will review the KIDS COUNT report on poverty. We’ll discuss the role housing costs play and the substantial risks of housing instability on child health. We’ll also take a further look at what steps federal, state, and local governments can take to help families secure and maintain housing during the pandemic, as well as local collaborations and long-term actions necessary to increase the supply of affordable housing, particularly for extremely low-income families with children. When: Monday, July 26, 2021, 3:00 p.m. Register via Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xVT1EVznSmeAgnkiHGsAcQ After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.  | 
