Tax Notes - The creation of a child tax credit or earned income tax credit in West Virginia could help relieve the state’s overburdened foster care system, according to a nonprofit research organization. Read the full article. In a report published October 12, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy examined the state’s struggling…
Safety Net
For Immediate Release: October 12, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV – West Virginia's child welfare system is in crisis. Currently, the Mountain State places four times as many children per capita in the foster care system as the United States as a whole. West Virginia permanently terminates parental rights faster and more often than any…
Please note, this report was co-authored by WVCBP executive director, Kelly Allen, and WVCBP child welfare summer research fellow, Veronica Witikko. Overview Read the full report here. West Virginia’s future depends on our ability as a state to nurture the health and well-being of the next generation of West Virginians—our children. Essential to that goal is…
WOWK - Charity organizations like Manna Meal are asking for help from the public because a long-term government shutdown would mean thousands of people across the state could not use their federal benefits to find their next meal, like SNAP benefits and WIC benefits. Read the full article. Amidst talk of the federal shutdown,…
According to the Census Bureau's official poverty estimates, West Virginia saw its child poverty rate increase from 20.7 percent to 25.0 percent between 2021 and 2022, the only state to see an increase by the official measure (along with Puerto Rico). In 2022, West Virginia's child poverty rate was the second highest among the 50…
For Immediate Release: September 14, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV – Nationally, the overall poverty rate and child poverty rate rose by the largest amount on record in more than 50 years, according to new US Census data released this week. The data also reveal that too many West Virginians—17.3 percent, or 308,825 residents, lived in…
West Virginia News, Exponent-Telegram, Spirit of Jefferson - SNAP restrictions included in this month’s federal debt limit deal will impact the Mountain State more severely than any other state on a per capita basis due to West Virginia’s aging population. Read the full op-ed. Nationwide, nearly 750,000 older adults aged 50-54 will be at risk…
SNAP restrictions included in this month's federal debt limit deal will impact the Mountain State more severely than any other state on a per capita basis due to West Virginia's aging population. Nationwide, nearly 750,000 older adults aged 50-54 will be at risk of losing their food assistance due to these new provisions, including 7,000…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - Today, Thursday, May 11, the U.S. officially canceled the designation of COVID-19 as a public health emergency in the country. Read the full article. Also this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) removed its designation for COVID-19 as a “global health emergency.” For the first time in more than three…
West Virginia has long faced significant health-related challenges, many of which could have been meaningfully addressed by bills introduced during the 2023 legislative session. Maternal and infant mortality rates continue to rise nationally, and the most recent pre-pandemic state data indicated that infant mortality in West Virginia outpaces the national rate.[1] Opioid overdose deaths continue to take the…