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Newsweek
14-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
United Way Worldwide President: A Consequential Opportunity to Expand the Child Tax Credit
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. As tax season concludes and the federal budget reconciliation process begins, Congress is staring at a massive opportunity to deliver critical support to millions of American families by expanding and strengthening the Child Tax Credit. Our current moment demands bold action. Congress can and should deliver that relief and stability by including an expansion of the Child Tax Credit in its reauthorization of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which is set to expire at the end of this year. Millions of individuals and families across America are struggling to pay their bills and to meet their children's basic needs. MomsRising offers Valentine's Day greetings to Congress and ask lawmakers to fund child care and nutrition for women, infants, children and expand the Child Tax Credit outside the Russell Senate Office Building on February 8,... MomsRising offers Valentine's Day greetings to Congress and ask lawmakers to fund child care and nutrition for women, infants, children and expand the Child Tax Credit outside the Russell Senate Office Building on February 8, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Morefor MomsRising Nonprofit organizations—including the United Way, which I lead—faith-based groups, and others are working hard to support those who are at risk of experiencing food insecurity, homelessness, and other challenges. But, the scale of need is immense, and supporting everyone who requires urgent help requires a far greater response than the efforts of civil society organizations alone. Right now, families need immediate financial relief and long-term stability. The Child Tax Credit matters because it is one of our most effective tools to lift children and families out of poverty. The most recent Child Tax Credit expansion in 2021 cut child poverty rates nearly in half. And that represented a historic decline to an intractable problem. In fact, the decrease in child poverty from 2020 to 2021 represented the largest single-year decline in child poverty on record. We can attribute that drop largely to the Child Tax Credit. However, since the expanded Child Tax Credit expired in 2022, we have seen child poverty rates rapidly increase across America again. Congress got it right before, and they can do it again. We should fully expand the Child Tax Credit so it's available to all children living in families with low or no income. For eligible families with children under specific income thresholds, the Child Tax Credit provides support for necessary daily expenses. Research shows that 9-in-10 low-income households spent their 2021 Child Tax Credit on basic necessities or education—which serves to stabilize communities across the country and spur local economic activity, especially in rural and underserved areas. The Child Tax Credit has proven its potential impact on the national economy as well. I have seen firsthand the difference that this credit makes for all families with children regardless of socioeconomic status. The Niskanen Center found that extending the Child Tax Credit would boost consumer spending by $27 billion over a 12-month period and would help to support the equivalent of half a million private sector jobs. There are more than 900 local United Ways nationwide and United Way has a presence in every congressional district. Through our support to 211—the human services hotline—and the nearly 17 million requests made to the three-digit line last year, we know that individuals and families are struggling with basic needs, such as assistance with housing, utilities, and food. The Child Tax Credit is not a partisan issue. Over the past 26 years, Republicans and Democrats in the House, the Senate, and the White House have supported its expansion. In the current Congress, many key voices have expressed vocal support, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, and Vice President JD Vance. From political leaders to community leaders to faith leaders to business leaders, the Child Tax Credit has a large, ideologically diverse coalition advocating for it for one simple reason: it works. Families do not just need immediate relief—they need opportunities for long-term financial stability, and Congress should use a proven tool at its disposal—the Child Tax Credit—to give all families the opportunity to thrive. Including an expanded Child Tax Credit in the reauthorization of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would not only improve families' ability to put food on the table, but also benefit the economy and spur job growth, which is a win for every American. Our country is strongest when all communities are strong, and as the president and CEO of United Way Worldwide, I will continue to advocate for programs and initiatives that have direct and substantial impacts on the communities and people we serve. To that end, I urge Congress to pass an expanded version of the Child Tax Credit and ensure families have the ability to thrive. Angela F. Williams is president and CEO of United Way Worldwide. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Paid Leave is All Moms Want for Mother's Day
Last month I met a woman named Elizabeth, who told me about how her newborn daughter had been rushed to the NICU as soon as she was delivered—where she would stay for six weeks. Elizabeth explained that she had found herself with an excruciating decision to make: start her limited paid leave immediately, and risk running out of time to spend with her daughter when she was finally released from hospital. Or go back to work within hours of a deeply traumatic birth, in order to save the time off that she had for when her daughter was allowed home. She chose the latter—working while just hours postpartum, her body still in recovery, her baby hooked up to a CPAP machine and struggling under bilirubin lights, all to ensure that she would maximize her time with her daughter once she was discharged. It was a choice no mother should ever have to make. And as I listened to her choke up recounting what had happened I thought, how is this still possible in America? Things aren't good for moms in America. We remain one of the only countries in the world without any guaranteed form of paid leave. We continue to have the worst maternal mortality rates of high-income nations, particularly for Black women. Child care is more expensive than rent or college tuition in a number of states—and a majority of Americans live in child care deserts, meaning there is no accessible care at all. The costs of living seem to increase daily. Abortion bans are multiplying. Fertility and maternal health investments—dismal to begin with—are now being slashed. Women are dying. So what do you do? How do you keep going, keep hoping, keep advocating for better? What do you do when systems and leaders profoundly fail you? At Paid Leave for All, the organization I lead, the answer for us has always been community. This Mother's Day, together with MomsRising and more than 50 mission-driven brands, we're working to build it. We will be organizing the largest collective action among businesses giving back to mothers in a single day. This nationwide, community-powered effort across business and advocacy—that we've called 'Pop Up for Paid Leave'—will offer more than $130,000 in mutual aid and free services to moms, from professional and personal coaching to diapers and formula. We are creating small havens in pop-ups across the country to give out these products, treat moms to some food and drink and experiences, and to help them feel like, somewhere, finally, they are seen. Instead of closing doors, we're opening them, to connection across communities, sectors, walks of life. Until our leadership reflects the real experiences and needs of working families, we will show up for each other ourselves, with care. We're also aware that, of course, what moms really need is well beyond 'stuff.' It's not the mom 'medals' the White House has allegedly been considering. It's affordable groceries and essentials like diapers and postpartum care. And it's the safety and dignity of knowing that you can earn a decent living and afford a family in this country. We deserve the ability to maintain a life and a livelihood, something much of the world takes for granted. And so we're doing this action not just to give back to moms, but to keep paid leave in the national conversation, a policy priority we won't concede again. And we're changing the conversation. Instead of sharing only heartbreaking stories, dark statistics and the costs of inaction, we're asking moms and caregivers to share what their lives could have been like — what their world will be like — with the assurance of paid family and medical leave. Some of the answers have already trickled in: 'Paid leave would have given me something priceless: more time with my baby after the NICU.' 'Paid leave would give me emotional and financial stability and a second child.' 'National paid leave would mean I could work where I want to, not just where I have to.' 'Paid leave would save my family.' Can you imagine your life, a world, where you had the freedom to pursue the work or start the business of your dreams? Where you could have children, or care for aging parents or ill loved ones, without worrying about breaking the bank? Where you wouldn't have to live with not just the fear of a diagnosis, but keeping a job throughout treatment? Where you didn't have to live with the financial and emotional stress of the inevitables in life? Can you imagine a world where no one missed a baby's first smile or a parent's last breath? In my own life and motherhood I often say I was lucky. I scrapped together a little bit of paid leave; I had family who was able to support me, I had health insurance. I was better off than many women in this country — the one in four who have returned to work within two weeks of giving birth. The countless who have never found affordable care. The many who didn't even survive. And yet, becoming a mother in America was still the hardest experience of my life. I went back to work well before my child was sleeping, well before my body had healed. I've never been the same. But this Mother's Day, in spite of the challenges and dangers around us, I'm looking ahead and invite you to too. What if you knew you had paid leave, no matter where you lived, or where you worked, or who you loved? What if you had the peace of mind of both a healthy family and a healthy paycheck? What if you had the time you needed, to recover, to bond, to heal? We're at a crossroads in a lot of ways in America, and about our character as a country, whether we look out for each other and protect all working families, or just serve a billionaire class. Whether we tackle a dwindling birthrate with faux incentives or punishments, or address a crisis of care with real structural change that allows all families to thrive. Whether we pursue common-sense economic solutions with overwhelming bipartisan support, like paid leave or affordable child care, or continue gutting the little social safety net we have left. In the end Elizabeth was able to use her state's paid leave program to extend her leave from work, take her daughter home from the NICU, meet her and hold her beyond the bilirubin lights. We asked her what paid leave had given her and she wept again, this time with joy. 'It gave me the ability to be home with my daughter.' This Mother's Day, what else could we wish for—paid leave for all. Originally Appeared on Glamour More Parenting Parents, you might be too emotionally invested in Bluey Can a $200 Instagram class really make you a better mother? Inside the (annoying?) rise of Cocomelon How Fisher-Price's 'Purple Monkey' Mat Became a viral hit
Fast Company
09-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
What do moms really want for Mother's Day? Paid leave
Many brands take advantage of Mother's Day to sell more products, like flowers and cupcakes. But 50 companies, including workwear label M.M. LaFleur, framing startup Framebridge, and stroller brand Bugaboo, are joining forces to draw attention to America's lack of federal paid leave. Across the country on Saturday, May 10, the nonprofit MomsRising, the Paid Leave for All campaign, and 50 brands are hosting pop-ups in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Nashville; Hoboken, New Jersey; and Cleveland, offering more than $100,000 in donated goods and services. The idea is to help new moms by giving them things like formula, breast pumps, clothing, and strollers, while also giving them a little break with massages and food. For those who can't attend in person, there is a nationwide giveaway that moms can enter or nominate fellow moms to receive things like care packages. Ultimately, though, the goal is to show that this kind of mutual aid is not enough. What mothers and other caregivers need is paid time off after they give birth. The U.S. is one of the only countries in the world without a federal paid leave policy, and as a result nearly a quarter of mothers have returned to work within just two weeks of giving birth. (This can be unsafe: After a C-section, doctors recommend that women rest for at least six weeks as their scars heal.) While some companies voluntarily offer workers parental leave, many don't. For example, in Ohio and Tennessee, 72% of workers don't have access to paid family leave; in Pennsylvania, that figure is 62%. And families lose $34 billion every year because women take unpaid time off. As a global brand, based in the Netherlands, Bugaboo interacts with parents from around the world. Jeanelle Teves, the company's chief commercial officer, has seen the positive impact of paid leave in other countries. 'Especially when you're having your first child, giving birth and taking care of an infant can be overwhelming,' she says. 'It makes such a difference when parents don't also have to worry about their jobs during this period.' She also points out that in the U.S., it is often wealthier people working at white-collar jobs who have access to paid time off from their employers. 'In many other countries, there is this sense that all parents deserve this time to focus on their families for a while,' she says. 'It takes a lot of flexibility to get a new life underway' Dawn Huckelbridge, founding director of Paid Leave for All, contends that this is not just a human rights issue; it's also a business issue. Companies that have good family leave policies are better able to hire and retain workers. 'A federal paid leave policy will ensure that companies have the resources they need to give workers time off,' she says. Susan Tynan founded Framebridge a decade ago as the mother of small children. From the start, she wanted to ensure that all workers had paid time off. Today, the company has 600 employees, 500 of whom work in manufacturing or retail stores. All of these workers receive four months of paid time off after having a baby, and one month of flexibility as they return to work. The non-birthing parent also gets a month off. 'It takes a lot of flexibility to get a new life underway,' Tynan says. She points out that this kind of generous policy is much harder for a smaller, newer startup. Most small companies don't have enough staff to fill in for the person who is on leave, so they might have to hire someone else, which is an added expense. 'Even though we all know someone who has given birth should be on leave and should be supported, the company needs to continue to run,' says Tynan. 'A [federal] paid leave policy would be better for the economy because it would allow businesses to thrive and help women stay in the workforce.' Huckelbridge notes that this campaign occurs at a time when the country is dealing with many pressing political issues brought on by the new administration, including job cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency and deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the goal of the campaign is to ensure that the fight for paid leave continues—even though this administration may not seem particularly amenable to it—and perhaps more importantly, to provide hope that paid leave is possible. 'The point of this campaign is to ensure that people feel seen,' says Huckelbridge. 'We want them to know that we see their struggle and we're fighting for a better future.'
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oklahoma teachers, lawmakers worry immigration raids could traumatize students
Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has been quite public about his support for President Donald Trump's immigration policies, even if that means federal immigration authorities want to raid Oklahoma schools to do so. The possibility of armed officers pulling a student, or an adult, out of a school over a question of immigration status — and the emotional and mental trauma that might cause to children who witness such a scene — gives many lawmakers and educators pause. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, the executive director and co-founder of MomsRising, a national advocacy group with a focus on issues concerning women, said she believes Trump's immigration policies, especially those that would remove long-term, established undocumented immigrants from the U.S., harm students and teachers across the nation. 'We are hearing from people that many children are terrified that if they go to school, their parents won't be there when they come home,' Rowe-Finkbeiner said recently during an online forum conducted by the American Federation of Teachers. 'That's no way to learn. We're hearing from people that many students, indeed, whole classrooms, are terrified that their close friends who are students, won't be at their desks tomorrow. None of this is OK.' Be the first to know: Sign up for breaking news email alerts Christopher Clark, a high school history teacher in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, said his first long-term job was working for a charter school with a high Latino population. "I am sure I had many students who were undocumented or had family members who were," Clark told The Oklahoman. "It was a question I did not ask because it did not matter. My job was to teach the students who were enrolled in my classes. I do not believe it is my place to know the immigration status of my students now unless they want to share it with me. Schools need to be a place where students feel safe so they can concentrate on their studies and learn how to prepare themselves for life after secondary education, be it in college, trade school, the military or the work force." Walters routinely spoke to reporters in a news-conference setting after monthly Oklahoma State Board of Education meetings through last August, until recently not doing so. He looked like he wouldn't do so in January until multiple reporters asked for clarification on something Walters said during the meeting about his current administrative rules proposal that would require Oklahoma schools to collect immigration status not just of students, but their parents, as well. In a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Plyler v. Doe, the court said all students had the right to enroll in public schools without regard to the immigration status of themselves or their parents or guardians. Walters has told cable network NewsNation that the Supreme Court 'got it wrong' in that decision. Three times during the brief news conference after the Jan. 28 meeting, Walters sidestepped multiple opportunities to address the effect of his rule proposal, and of potential immigration raids, on students. A reporter from online news outlet Oklahoma Watch first asked Walters, 'Are you concerned at all about the trauma to all kids in a public school if there were some sort of immigration enforcement, if law enforcement were to come in?' Walters' reply: 'I do love that the media, you guys continue to focus in on, 'I can't believe that you're going to comply with federal law.' But federal law is clear — you participate with a federal investigation. If federal law enforcement comes into a school, or calls us to get information, we're going to work with them. President Trump and his team, which are doing a tremendous job to get illegal immigration under control, we will work with them, so if that's providing information, providing resources, providing personnel, we're going to do that. We're going to continue to obey federal law and work with law enforcement on any investigation.' The reporter noted the question was about trauma to children, to which Walters replied, 'I think that answered it. You might not like the answer. … We're going to get illegal immigration under control. President Trump will make the determination on what illegal immigration policies look like, on deportation, and we're going to continue to work with him.' A third time, the reporter asked if Walters was concerned if that could be traumatic to students. Walters answered: 'I am concerned about the impact of illegal immigration on education in Oklahoma. We're going to continue to get that under control.' At a news conference the following day held by the Oklahoma Legislative Latino Caucus at the state Capitol, another reporter asked lawmakers the same question. Their responses differed greatly from that of Walters. Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, said imagining an immigration officer going into a school to pick up a child 'is just traumatic' to think about. 'Kids, at the end of the day, I mean, they need to be focused on their homework, on making sure that they're able to turn in their assignments, get their education, grow, and, like I mentioned, being able to achieve those dreams that they're looking for,' Alonso-Sandoval said. Oklahoma ranked 49th nationally in the 2023 Kids Count annual report, in measures of economics, education, health, family and community. 'We're one of the worst when it comes to mental illness, especially among children, so this is only going to continue to exacerbate those issues that were already seeing within our schools,' Alonso-Sandoval said. State Rep. Annie Menz, D-Norman, another member of the caucus, said that her middle-school son was born in Yukon, 'but he looks like me. What's to stop him from being called out of his class?' Menz said if something like that happened, it wouldn't be just her son affected, but also the children around him. 'So this doesn't just affect one or the other — it's everyone,' Menz said. 'And when questions like yours go unanswered by the people who are responsible for these ideas, that really raises a flag with Mama bears, and it should across the state, because it's not just my kid or their kids or someone else's kid. It's not the 'other.' It's all of us, and this is something that will affect all of us for future generations.' Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, isn't a member of the Latino caucus but did teach at a middle school in southwest Oklahoma City that serves a predominantly Latino community. Since Trump's election, Rosecrants said he steadily has heard from worried former students, and he questions Walters' motives with the administrative rule. One thing Rosecrants said should be discussed more is that 'these students are American citizens. I didn't even know that when I first got there (to teach). It's some of their parents that may not be, but (the students) were born in America. Yes, (Walters is) trying to get the parents to do that insidiously. He wants them to self-report or whatever, 'just for numbers.' Bro, we know what you're trying to do, because you don't hide it.' This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: ICE raids in schools may traumatize students, Oklahoma teachers say
USA Today
06-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Oklahoma teachers, lawmakers worry immigration raids could traumatize students
Oklahoma teachers, lawmakers worry immigration raids could traumatize students Show Caption Hide Caption Protestors gather outside Oklahoma Capitol in OKC on session day one Protestors performed music and brandished signs as part of the planned demonstration, ahead of Gov. Kevin Stitt's State of the State address. Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has been quite public about his support for President Donald Trump's immigration policies, even if that means federal immigration authorities want to raid Oklahoma schools to do so. The possibility of armed officers pulling a student, or an adult, out of a school over a question of immigration status — and the emotional and mental trauma that might cause to children who witness such a scene — gives many lawmakers and educators pause. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, the executive director and co-founder of MomsRising, a national advocacy group with a focus on issues concerning women, said she believes Trump's immigration policies, especially those that would remove long-term, established undocumented immigrants from the U.S., harm students and teachers across the nation. 'We are hearing from people that many children are terrified that if they go to school, their parents won't be there when they come home,' Rowe-Finkbeiner said recently during an online forum conducted by the American Federation of Teachers. 'That's no way to learn. We're hearing from people that many students, indeed, whole classrooms, are terrified that their close friends who are students, won't be at their desks tomorrow. None of this is OK.' Be the first to know: Sign up for breaking news email alerts Christopher Clark, a high school history teacher in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, said his first long-term job was working for a charter school with a high Latino population. "I am sure I had many students who were undocumented or had family members who were," Clark told The Oklahoman. "It was a question I did not ask because it did not matter. My job was to teach the students who were enrolled in my classes. I do not believe it is my place to know the immigration status of my students now unless they want to share it with me. Schools need to be a place where students feel safe so they can concentrate on their studies and learn how to prepare themselves for life after secondary education, be it in college, trade school, the military or the work force." Supreme Court was wrong about ruling guaranteeing education for immigrants, Ryan Walters says Walters routinely spoke to reporters in a news-conference setting after monthly Oklahoma State Board of Education meetings through last August, until recently not doing so. He looked like he wouldn't do so in January until multiple reporters asked for clarification on something Walters said during the meeting about his current administrative rules proposal that would require Oklahoma schools to collect immigration status not just of students, but their parents, as well. In a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Plyler v. Doe, the court said all students had the right to enroll in public schools without regard to the immigration status of themselves or their parents or guardians. Walters has told cable network NewsNation that the Supreme Court 'got it wrong' in that decision. Three times during the brief news conference after the Jan. 28 meeting, Walters sidestepped multiple opportunities to address the effect of his rule proposal, and of potential immigration raids, on students. A reporter from online news outlet Oklahoma Watch first asked Walters, 'Are you concerned at all about the trauma to all kids in a public school if there were some sort of immigration enforcement, if law enforcement were to come in?' Walters' reply: 'I do love that the media, you guys continue to focus in on, 'I can't believe that you're going to comply with federal law.' But federal law is clear — you participate with a federal investigation. If federal law enforcement comes into a school, or calls us to get information, we're going to work with them. President Trump and his team, which are doing a tremendous job to get illegal immigration under control, we will work with them, so if that's providing information, providing resources, providing personnel, we're going to do that. We're going to continue to obey federal law and work with law enforcement on any investigation.' The reporter noted the question was about trauma to children, to which Walters replied, 'I think that answered it. You might not like the answer. … We're going to get illegal immigration under control. President Trump will make the determination on what illegal immigration policies look like, on deportation, and we're going to continue to work with him.' A third time, the reporter asked if Walters was concerned if that could be traumatic to students. Walters answered: 'I am concerned about the impact of illegal immigration on education in Oklahoma. We're going to continue to get that under control.' Lawmakers express concern about the mental, emotional effects of immigration raids on schools At a news conference the following day held by the Oklahoma Legislative Latino Caucus at the state Capitol, another reporter asked lawmakers the same question. Their responses differed greatly from that of Walters. Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, said imagining an immigration officer going into a school to pick up a child 'is just traumatic' to think about. 'Kids, at the end of the day, I mean, they need to be focused on their homework, on making sure that they're able to turn in their assignments, get their education, grow, and, like I mentioned, being able to achieve those dreams that they're looking for,' Alonso-Sandoval said. Oklahoma ranked 49th nationally in the 2023 Kids Count annual report, in measures of economics, education, health, family and community. 'We're one of the worst when it comes to mental illness, especially among children, so this is only going to continue to exacerbate those issues that were already seeing within our schools,' Alonso-Sandoval said. State Rep. Annie Menz, D-Norman, another member of the caucus, said that her middle-school son was born in Yukon, 'but he looks like me. What's to stop him from being called out of his class?' Menz said if something like that happened, it wouldn't be just her son affected, but also the children around him. 'So this doesn't just affect one or the other — it's everyone,' Menz said. 'And when questions like yours go unanswered by the people who are responsible for these ideas, that really raises a flag with Mama bears, and it should across the state, because it's not just my kid or their kids or someone else's kid. It's not the 'other.' It's all of us, and this is something that will affect all of us for future generations.' Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, isn't a member of the Latino caucus but did teach at a middle school in southwest Oklahoma City that serves a predominantly Latino community. Since Trump's election, Rosecrants said he steadily has heard from worried former students, and he questions Walters' motives with the administrative rule. One thing Rosecrants said should be discussed more is that 'these students are American citizens. I didn't even know that when I first got there (to teach). It's some of their parents that may not be, but (the students) were born in America. Yes, (Walters is) trying to get the parents to do that insidiously. He wants them to self-report or whatever, 'just for numbers.' Bro, we know what you're trying to do, because you don't hide it.'
