*Tax season is over, and another is right around the corner. However, many of America’s most vulnerable families from underserved communities are missing out on the opportunity to ease the pain of recession, pandemic and unemployment by filing for the Child Tax Credit and receiving $3,600. Recently, EURweb spoke with Share Our Strength associate Faith Adeola about the importance of this hand-up as well as growing food insecurity in urban and rural America.
EURweb: Thank you for speaking with EURweb regarding your organization, as well as the Child Tax Credit.
Faith Adeola: Oh, well, thank you so much for having me here on behalf of my organization Share Our Strength. I’ve been with the organization for about three years, and I’m an associate and on a family economic mobility team. That team is a pretty neutral organization as the mission of our organization is to eliminate poverty and hunger in the US.
And what our team is focusing on right now is addressing the root causes of poverty, which is why we are one of our one of the things that we’re focusing on right now is the Child Tax Credit, which is essentially a tax refund designed to help with the cost of raising a child. And I was automatically sued by families who filed taxes, but not the staff tax credit has not reached all families. And that’s why we are really pushing for families to go to get ctc.org by November 15.
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EURweb.com: What, in your estimation, are the root causes of poverty?
Faith: Yeah, so there are a number of root causes of poverty. If you want to look at discrimination if you want to look at structural and institutional racism, socio-economic factors, such as employment, where you live, health, access to health care, and education, there are a number of factors, also workforce development, you know, the factors that contribute to the root causes of poverty.
EURweb: When did the enhanced Child Tax Credit initially come about who’s responsible for that from a political perspective? And to what do you lay the blame of so few people being aware of, you know, that their family can get $3,600 and so few people are aware to what do you accredit that?
Faith: So the Child Tax Credit came about as a result of the pandemic. As I say it’s a tax refund designed to help with the cost of raising a child. However, in 2021, this benefit was temporarily expanded to those families who do not know of our taxes because they either earn too little, or they have no recent income.
EURweb: Could you speak upon the growing scourge of food insecurity not only in urban America but increasingly in rural America as well?
Faith: So at our organization, we know that it takes more than food to solve hunger at the end of the day, and this enhanced Child Tax Credit, has helped parents afford basic necessities, like groceries, childcare, and transportation to get to and from work, but we know that it did not reach everyone.
And so why is this important today, everything is more expensive. Families are having to stretch their budgets more than ever, especially families who’ve lost their jobs or have little or no earnings at all. So receiving the child tax credit can mean having more money to buy groceries, pay for childcare, and cover other basic needs.
EURweb: Could you speak upon the growing scourge of food insecurity not only in urban America but increasingly in rural America as well?
Faith: So like I said, the enhanced Child Tax Credit, is specifically designed to provide extra financial relief for families during the pandemic. So we know that we want the benefits to reach all families, which is why we’re pushing for getting Family School to get ccc.org is a simplified tool. It takes less than 15 minutes, right?
So we don’t want to show you this benefit, which is specifically the black community is particularly important, since we all know that the pandemic has had this punishing, disproportionate impact on communities of color in rural areas, as well as the black families of children being more than twice as likely to experience hunger than white families.
This benefit has not reached all families in America, you know, it’s reached most families, but those most in need, it still hasn’t reached those families, which is why we are really pushing for families to go to get www.getctc.org to complete a simplified tool to get that credit.
To see if your family qualifies log on to www.getctc.org.
Child Tax Credit Fast Facts
- Last year, this important benefit was temporarily increased to reach more families, including those with very low or no incomes.
- Each qualifying household is eligible to receive up to $3,600 for each child under 6 years old, and $3,000 for each child between 6 and 17 years old. This is not a loan.
- Families who received monthly payments last year will get the second half of the credit when they file taxes this year.
- Families who missed out on payments last year will still get the full credit when they file a tax return this year.
- Anyone who has a child with a Social Security number is eligible, even if they do not have a Social Security number themselves.
- 2021 results strongly suggest that simplified filing at GetCTC.org broke down barriers for new and intermittent filers, who would have otherwise had to file a more complex full tax return.
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