SENATOR DIDOMENICO, LIFT OUR KIDS COALITION HOST DEEP POVERTY BRIEFING
BOSTON- Last week, Senator DiDomenico, Representative Marjorie Decker, and the Lift Our Kids Coalition hosted an event at the State House to highlight the difficulties families living in deep poverty face in meeting their children’s basic needs. Senator DiDomenico and Rep. Decker are the lead sponsors of S.36/H.102, “An Act to lift kids out of deep poverty.”
Families living below 50% of the federal poverty level—currently $905 a month for a family of three— are described as living in “deep poverty.” Massachusetts Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) benefits are a maximum of $593 a month for a family of three, therefore leaving thousands of children below the level of deep poverty. Over the years, costs have gone up, but grant levels have stayed frozen. As a result, the TAFDC grant buys only half as much as it did thirty years ago.
Senator DiDomenico and Rep. Decker’s bill would raise assistance grants by 10% a year until they reach 50% of the federal poverty level. Under the bills, once amounts reach half the federal poverty line, the grant would adjust as the poverty level increases with inflation.
‘It is unconscionable that we have 50,000 children living so far below the federal poverty level in our Commonwealth,” said Senate DiDomenico. “Children go to school without socks, wearing worn out shoes, because their families have to pay other bills. We can—and must— do better, and we can start by passing ‘An Act to lift kids out of deep poverty’ this legislative session.”
As part of the State House event, shoes and socks were collected to benefit children in need. Following the event, coalition members The Home for Little Wanderers and Cradles to Crayons distributed donated socks and shoes to the children they serve.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have so many co-sponsors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate,” said DiDomenico. “I would like to thank the many elected officials and advocacy organizations who attended and donated at this very successful event!”
The Lift Our Kids Coalition, comprised of 127 organizations, began in late 2016 to advocate for Senator DiDomenico and Representative Decker’s bill to repeal the state’s family cap law, which barred benefits for children conceived while or soon after the family began receiving assistance. The Legislature repealed the family cap in 2019 by a nearly unanimous vote.
Because of Senator DiDomenico, Representative Decker, and the Lift Our Kids Coalition’s efforts, about 11,000 previously excluded children are now receiving benefits. However, because benefits are so low, families continue to struggle to pay for necessities. DiDomenico, Decker, and the Coalition will now focus their efforts on S.36/H.102 to ensure that no child in the Commonwealth lives in a state of deep poverty.
In December of 2019, the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities reported “An Act to lift kids out of deep poverty” favorably. This legislation is now pending before the Senate Committee on Ways & Means.
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