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.

Resources by Cara Baldari


Fact Sheet: U.S. Child Poverty Has Significantly Increased

| September 18, 2023 |

On September 12, 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the United States saw a significant increase in child poverty, with 12.4 percent of


Issue Brief: Why Children Need a National Renter Tax Credit

| August 25, 2023 |

Background Children in households that receive housing vouchers or other forms of rental assistance benefit in a variety of ways. For example, vouchers reduce


Congress Must Protect TANF in debt ceiling talks

| May 16, 2023 |

Extensive research shows that tax credits and cash transfers influence positive parent-child interactions, improve child development outcomes, and have a bigger impact than any


Policy Brief: The Harmful Consequences of Work Requirements and Other Obstacles to Services for Children and Families

| April 4, 2023 |

Each year, federal programs provide children with affordable health care, nutritious food, stable housing, and early childhood education. These programs not only lift millions


30 years after FMLA, children & families need more

| February 3, 2023 |

Thirty years ago, Congress passed, and the president signed into law, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which enabled some workers, for the


Let’s ensure no child in the U.S. goes hungry and that every child has a safe and stable place to live

| November 15, 2022 |

This week marks Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, a time for action toward the goal of ensuring that no child in the U.S. goes


Keeping up with progress: How the U.S. can follow the world’s lead on child poverty

| November 7, 2022 |

The United States has historically had a higher level of child poverty than many other wealthy countries because we have failed to invest in


Policy Brief: The Biden Administration Public Charge Regulation —What does it mean for children in immigrant families?

| October 26, 2022 |

Approximately 1-in-4 children in the United States has an immigrant parent, and children of immigrants are the fastest-growing group of children in the United


How Congress can reduce economic hardship & stabilize families now

| October 19, 2022 |

We learned recently that improvements to the Child Tax Credit enacted in 2021 through the American Rescue Plan Act nearly cut our child poverty


U.S. Child Poverty in 2021

| September 21, 2022 |

On September 13, 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the United States saw the lowest child poverty rate on record, with 5.2% of