Child Poverty Target

One-in-five kids are living at or below the poverty line. This trend is in stark contrast to the progress America has made in reducing poverty among seniors to about 9 percent, or less than half the child poverty rate. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom effectively cut child poverty in half over the same period, even during the global recession, through the creation of a national child poverty target and the implementation of related policies.

Creating a target to halve child poverty in America in ten years and eradicate it within a generation would establish poverty reduction as a national priority and challenge Congress and the Administration to take action towards this goal. It would serve as a rallying cry for the government and other stakeholders to take concrete steps to reduce child poverty in the United States. It would institutionalize the goal of reducing child poverty and create an impetus for public debate around the most effective interventions needed to achieve this target.

Download our newest report on the the UK Child Poverty Target and what we can learn from it in the United States.

Get Involved

• Sign up for updates about our work on the national child poverty target.

Events

• Briefing: Reducing Child Poverty: Transferable Themes from the United Kingdom (video and presentations)

Fact Sheets

• Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2015 fact sheet (House)
• Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2015 fact sheet (Senate)
• Child Poverty in Wisconsin in 2014

Reports

• A Look Back at the UK Child Poverty Target: Transferable Themes for the United States report
• Protecting Children in Tough Economic Times: What Can the United States Learn from Britain? report
• Tackling Child Poverty and Improving Child Well-Being: Lessons from Britain report
• From Target to Legislation: Tackling Child Poverty in the United Kingdom—A Model for the United States? report

Letters and Correspondence 

• Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2015 letter of support

From our Voices for Kids Blog

• The Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2015
• Let’s Set a Goal & Let’s Get Started
• Seeing is Believing: Notes from a UK Study Visit on Child Poverty (Part 1, London)
• Seeing is Believing: Notes from a UK Study Visit on Child Poverty (Part 2, Liverpool)
• War on Poverty Made Strides for Children, but We Can Do Better
• The Great Recession Continues to Have Lingering Effects for Children and Families
• New Census Data Shows Some Improvement for Kids
• House Budget Committee Report Understates Effect of Safety Net for Children