September 30th, 2024 by WCBC Radio

The number of West Virginia children living in poverty remains among the highest in the nation, and more children are living in households struggling with hunger, according to the latest federal data.  The end of pandemic supports combined with rising inflation and the cost of living are to blame, experts say. Salaam Bhatti with the Food Research and Action Center says the expanded Child Tax Credit cut child poverty in half, but when it ended, more families dipped back into poverty…

“Had we added few more dollars to that program, it could have cut child poverty entirely. But it was a deliberate policy choice that the government made not to do that, and then another deliberate decision to remove that expansion.”