Census: Child poverty remains high

More than one in five children lives in poverty in America, according to new data released from the Census this week. In 2011 the rate of child poverty, at 21.9 percent, was similar to other years following the recession, and means that 16.1 million children are at risk.

Child advocates are using the new data to demand action from Congress. Simply put, we cannot consider cutting the already fraying social safety net, especially with children making up the poorest group of Americans. Yet the past two proposed federal budgets from the U.S. House of Representatives have tried to save the government money by making massive cuts to anti-poverty programs. We say that balancing the federal budget is good, but in times like these, families budgets are more important.

Read more about the Census data and what child advocates have to say in our press release!