Two recent reports from the Institute of Higher Education Policy and the Education Trust found that programs offering free tuition to low-income students typically do not have the intended impact of making college more affordable. Because these programs only cover the leftover tuition of what other forms of federal and state aid do not cover, they usually do not lower other financial barriers, such as housing, transportation, or textbook costs. While some program advocates have said that these reports analyze financial aid programs in a vacuum and not in context of other forms of aid, the reports nonetheless recommend close scrutiny of free tuition programs and suggest adding other forms of financial support to fully enable low-income students to attend college.

This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is part of the Self-Sufficiency Series: Solutions from the Field. The series profiles local programs from across the country finding solutions that meet HHS’s Strategic Plan for encouraging self-sufficiency and personal responsibility, and eliminating barriers to economic opportunity. The blog highlights the partnership between the Nurse-Family Partnership and Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana. The organizations have joined hands to improve the health of low-income, first-time mothers and their babies and to strengthen the economic stability of their families.

On September 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released new economic data for 2017. Median household income increased from 2016 by 1.8 percent to $61,372, and the poverty rate simultaneously declined 0.4 percent to 12.3 percent. This fall does not represent a significant change from the previous year, but poverty is down 2.5 percent in total over the past three years. The Supplemental Poverty Measure, which takes governmental programs designed to aid low-income families into account, also did not change significantly and currently is 13.9 percent for 2017. For income and poverty delineations by age, race, educational status, and other demographic factors, visit the Census website.

More than one in four Americans has subprime credit, according to research conducted by the Urban Institute. This rating has substantial effects on the rates and costs of borrowing; for a $10,000 loan, someone with subprime credit can expect to pay about $3,000 more than someone with good credit. Because vulnerable populations, such as minorities and low-income citizens, are more likely to have subprime credit, this disparity presents a serious issue and can exacerbate poverty gaps. Many people believe perpetuating credit myths that can harm their scores and thus their financial well-being, such as: everyone has a credit score; you have to be wealthy to have good credit; paying your bills on time will translate to a good credit score; inquiries can ruin your credit score; having multiple credit cards is bad for your credit score; you have to go into debt to build credit; and rent, payday, and auto-title loans can help you build a credit score. It is important for workforce development programs and self-sufficiency stakeholders to understand these myths and disseminate correct information to help raise the subprime credit scores of people with whom they may work.

In this November 7 webinar sponsored by the Community Action Partnership, participants will learn more about the building blocks agencies need to construct to successfully shift to a whole family approach. This webinar will specifically focus on the building block related to aligning services for parents and children together. Additionally, participants will learn how to access the outstanding resources coming from the whole family approach efforts of the Learning Community.

Data from the 2017 American Community Survey were released in September, which can supplement recent Census data on poverty and income measurements to give a more robust picture of poverty in the United States. A post by Brookings summarizes the findings chiefly around disparities in rural and metropolitan poverty. Urban poverty continues to decline in aggregate, but fewer regions are experiencing that drop as compared to 2016. Overall, though, cities are experiencing accelerating rates of poverty reduction and changing twice as fast as stagnating suburban poverty reduction rates. Although poverty is still higher in cities, these trends contribute to a narrowing suburban-urban poverty gap due to both steeper rates of decline in cities and shallower rates of decline in the suburbs. The post also emphasizes how the American Community Survey can provide a more nuanced view of the uneven economy as compared to the Census data alone.

While the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a popular anti-poverty and pro-work policy that provides a refundable tax credit to low-income Americans, most of its dollars go to families with children. Because there are significantly fewer resources for workers without children, New York City and Atlanta piloted a “Paycheck Plus” program to give single workers more generous benefits. This report by MDRC finds that this program reduced extreme poverty and modestly increased employment rates, particularly for women and the lowest-income men. The researchers speculate that increasing people’s knowledge of employment services may increase the employment effects of the program, which could be an area of expansion for similar interventions going forward. Paycheck Plus also had additional social benefits like increasing tax filing rates and increasing child support payments, leading MDRC to conclude that work-based safety net programs have measured effects on poverty and employment for low-income Americans.

In 2009, Washington, D.C. began offering two years of full-day public preschool, citing literature on better school performance and higher parental work hours that come with preschool enrollment. This report from American Progress studies the effects of D.C.’s program on maternal labor force participation (LFP) and finds that the program caused a 10-percentage point increase in maternal LFP, as well as a large increase in employment. The effects come mainly from low- and high-income women, since LFP for middle-income families remained the same. Overall, the researchers conclude that universal full-day preschool positively affects maternal labor supply and suggests that the United States should consider expanding child care for all.

This report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation provides research and data on the vulnerable population of 18- to 24-year-old parents and offers potential programs and policy suggestions to serve the needs of this cohort effectively. Young parents face the challenges of unfinished psychological development, economic and housing instability, minority-based discrimination, and lack of access to social safety net benefits. To combat these obstacles, the report recommends investing in education and employment opportunities; creating programs geared toward financial stability and income retention during their child’s early years; providing stress-reducing services like parenting workshops, mental health services, and affordable child care; and focusing on keeping families together.

On October 17, Mathematica Policy Research will discuss the historical trends of the work activity of people with disabilities, as well as new insights from three studies on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients. Background on the employment landscape since the Great Depression, coupled with an analysis of changes in work activities of SSDI recipients from 2005 to 2015, will contextualize the arena of disability work and insurance to inform policymakers about the obstacles to employment that this population faces.