Blog

September 11, 2025 by Sean O'Leary
Poverty in West Virginia Remained High in 2024

More than one in seven West Virginians (286,737 residents) lived in poverty in 2024, including over 73,000 children, according to new estimates out today from U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey. West Virginia’s official poverty rate in 2024 was 16.7 percent, unchanged from 2023. West Virginia’s poverty rate was 4.6 percentage points higher than…

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September 10, 2025 by Rhonda Rogombe
Congress Just Enacted HR 1, Which Makes the Largest Cuts to Health Care and SNAP in History. Here’s What It Means for West Virginia

The enactment of HR 1, the Budget Reconciliation Bill, supported by all four members of West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation, cements the largest cuts to Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance in our nation’s history. While the legislation was federal, the effects will be felt locally, impacting families, food pantries, and health care clinics, as…

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September 4, 2025 by Sara Whitaker
DCR Quietly Eliminated Thousands of Meals for People Behind Bars

Over the Labor Day weekend, West Virginia’s Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) quietly implemented a new plan for feeding the thousands of people under its control. On Saturdays and Sundays, DCR would no longer serve three meals per day – as it has done for more than a decade. Instead, the more than 9,500…

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August 27, 2025 by Kelly Allen, Tamaya Browder
As New School Year Starts, State Spending on Education is Falling Behind Prior Levels

Back to school season always brings excitement and hope. This month as West Virginia’s students head back to school, many families and school staff will also have to navigate the effects of shrinking state K-12 funds, which are falling well below past levels this year. Inadequate state K-12 education funding is having clear impacts including…

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August 26, 2025 by Tamaya Browder
Hope Scholarship Expansion on the Horizon, Lawmakers Must Take Action

The children of West Virginia are guaranteed a thorough and efficient system of free schools by our state constitution. However, due to the growing Hope Scholarship, declining state revenues, and disruptions to federal funding and support, this guarantee is at risk for the nearly 90 percent of school-aged children in the Mountain State that are…

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August 19, 2025 by Kelly Allen
West Virginia’s Shrinking State Spending on Health and Education is Dramatically Increasing Downstream Costs

After years of flat budgets that fail to account for the cost of inflation on public services, West Virginia’s state spending on Medicaid, child care assistance, public education, and higher education have all declined. Meanwhile, other areas of the budget, namely spending on jails, prisons, and foster care, have increased dramatically. This is an expected…

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August 18, 2025 by Tamaya Browder
Federal Funding Cuts Will Further Harm Public Schools: West Virginia Can’t Take the Hit

The Trump administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 proposed budget calls for $4.5 billion in cuts to K-12 programs and $12 billion in total cuts to public education, including higher education programs. This is yet another effort to undermine public education following over $6 billion in withheld and delayed funding to public schools this summer, efforts to…

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August 14, 2025 by Rhonda Rogombe
Federal Policy Changes Will Have Sweeping Impacts on the ACA Marketplace: Part Two

This publication is part two of a two-part series outlining federal changes to the ACA Marketplace. Click here to read part one. Much of the attention around federal health care cuts has focused on the budget reconciliation law that all four members of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation supported, which we covered in part one of this blog series. In…

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August 6, 2025 by Rhonda Rogombe
Federal Policy Changes Will Have Sweeping Impacts on the ACA Marketplace: Part One

This publication is part one of a two-part series outlining federal changes to the ACA Marketplace. Click here to read part two. In July, Congress passed a sweeping budget reconciliation bill that cements the largest cuts to health care and food security in US history. Supported by all four members of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation, these cuts…

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