Cara Baldari Vice President, Family Economics, Housing and Homelessness
Cara Baldari is the Vice President of Family Economics, Housing, and Homelessness at First Focus on Children. She has been with First Focus since 2011 and in this role, she leads the U.S. Child Poverty Action Group, of which First Focus is a founding member.
In 2016 she helped to secure federal appropriations funding for a landmark consensus study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty, released in February 2019.
Through her work, she advocates for a cross-sector set of investments to end child poverty and homelessness, including cash assistance, income supports, homeless assistance, and more.
Cara received a Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and daughter.
Fact Sheet: Child Poverty in the Wake of COVID-19
Cara Baldari | September 23, 2021 |
On September 14, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau released national child poverty estimates for 2020, including both the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) and the …
TANF turns 25: let’s maximize its reach to children in need
Cara Baldari, First Focus Campaign for Children | August 17, 2021 |
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which before the recent expansion of the Child Tax …
Biden Administration Plan Will Likely Cut Child Poverty in Half in 2021
Cara Baldari, First Focus Campaign for Children | January 21, 2021 |
President Biden’s American Rescue Plan pledges emergency relief for those affected by the public health and economic crises caused by COVID-19. It is also …
2021 is the Year to Prioritize Child Poverty Reduction
Cara Baldari, Michelle Dallafior, First Focus Campaign for Children | January 14, 2021 |
2021 is off to an eventful start, full of tragedy and tumult, but also opportunity for progress with a new incoming Administration and Congress. …
Report says more than 4,000 NY children lost a caregiver due to COVID-19
Averi Pakulis, Cara Baldari | December 11, 2020 |
Between March and July of this year, 4,200 children in New York State lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19. Four-thousand, two-hundred individual children. …
Key Stats on the Effect of COVID-19 on Kids
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Christopher Towner (Former Staff), Conor Sasner, Kathy Sacco, Michelle Dallafior, Miriam Abaya, Olivia Gomez | November 19, 2020 |
The COVID-19 pandemic is doing more than exposing the racial, ethnic, and economic disparities existing in our society; it is compounding them, and so …
Child poverty surpasses pre-pandemic levels, with 2.5 million more children in poverty since May 2020
Cara Baldari | October 16, 2020 |
Journalist Jason DeParle of the New York Times is one of the leading media voices covering child poverty in the United States, and in …
With COVID, the case for a child allowance becomes even clearer
Cara Baldari, First Focus Campaign for Children | August 27, 2020 |
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, child poverty in the United States remained stubbornly high. The outbreak of the pandemic and resulting economic crisis …
Rep. Barbara Lee & Ezra Klein ask “What would it take to end child poverty in America?”
Cara Baldari, Tim Smith | August 26, 2020 |
On a recent episode of The Ezra Klein Show, the host had a very specific question for Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) — how do …
Congress Must Act Quickly to Pass Additional Relief for Struggling Children and Families
Aubrey Edwards-Luce, Averi Pakulis, Bruce Lesley, Cara Baldari, Carrie Fitzgerald, Christopher Towner (Former Staff), Claire Williams, Conor Sasner, Michelle Dallafior, Olivia Gomez, First Focus Campaign for Children | August 10, 2020 |
Given recent spikes in COVID-19 caseloads, an economic crisis that continues to deepen, and an upcoming school year faced with daunting challenges, it is …