- Author: Brianna Aguayo Villalon
- Editor: Marisa M Tsai
- Editor: Wendi Gosliner
US safety net programs provide aid to low-income households through cash and in-kind assistance, such as food and healthcare benefits. Using data from the Assessing California Communities' Experiences with Safety Net Supports ACCESS,study researchers examined patterns of multi-program take-up, that is participation conditioned on eligibility in California. Sociodemographic factors associated with multi-program take-up were also identified. Among the four safety net programs examined (i.e., Earned Income Tax Credit or EITC, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and...
Wendi Gosliner from the Nutrition Policy Institute discussed efforts to enhance population health and nutrition, focusing on eliminating disparities and improving federal food programs in a recent If I Could Change One Thing health policy podcast episode. Highlighting policy amendments during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gosliner emphasized the impact on food access, particularly for SNAP, WIC, school meal programs, and expansion of the Child Tax Credit. Stressing the importance of tackling food insecurity and reducing waste, she called for comprehensive interventions in federal nutrition programs. “When we think about growing food, and all of the inputs that are needed to...
Eligible working families with low income that have children can receive the earned income tax credit, commonly known as the EITC, annually in the form of a lump-sum federal tax refund averaging about $2,500. Little was known about how families spend their EITC funds and the mechanisms for how this credit supports improved health outcomes. University of California researchers conducted a large survey of nearly 250 California families that received the EITC in 2020-2021. Families spent their refunds on basic needs. Half of the families surveyed reported spending their EITC refund on bills, debt or housing, over a third reported spending it on...
- Author: Mike Hsu
UC researchers identify barriers to Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides up to $7K each year per family
About 1 out of 4 Californians who are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit do not actually receive it – and University of California researchers are digging deeper...
/h3>Working families with low- to moderate-income can receive up to $6,000 in Federal benefits and an additional $3,000 in California state benefits through the Earned Income Tax Credit, one of the largest poverty alleviation programs in the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers EITC a critical evidence-based cost-effective intervention to improve health within five years, however only 53-80% of eligible families received these benefits in 2017 and 2018. Nutrition Policy Institute's Wendi Gosliner will collaborate with Rita Hamad from the University of California, San Francisco and Lia Fernald from UC Berkeley on a project to test an outreach program designed to improve take-up of the Federal and state Earned...