The article presents the True Cost of Economic Security (TCES) measure, showing that over half of U.S. families struggle to meet the comprehensive costs required to thrive, highlighting significant disparities based on family type, location, and race.
This brief outlines the U.S. federal government’s framework to identify, reduce, and address administrative burdens through a series of executive orders, legislative actions, and updated policies focused on improving customer experience and increasing access to government benefits.
This article examines the concept of "viral cash" and suggests that the future growth of basic income programs will depend on advocacy networks rather than traditional policy diffusion across jurisdictions.
This paper discusses the country’s chronic underinvestment in children and resulting outcomes, including new data on poverty rates among young children, is inextricable from the prospects of young children; and the remarkably comprehensive pandemic-era response policies, including which changes contributed most to reducing child poverty.
Expanding access to free tax assistance through virtual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs can help low-income filers claim essential tax benefits without incurring preparation fees.
This report presents new national survey data showing how benefits cliffs and asset limits negatively affect the economic mobility of low-wage workers in the U.S.
This provides a comprehensive look at child well-being across the U.S., ranking states and highlighting policy recommendations to improve outcomes for children.
This report explains how states can continue to voluntarily implement key Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment improvements—originally required by two federal rules—despite a ten-year moratorium enacted in July 2025 that blocks their mandatory enforcement
The Policy Rules Database (PRD), developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the National Center for Children in Poverty, consolidates complex rules for major U.S. federal and state benefit programs and tax policies into a standardized, easy-to-use format. This database allows researchers to model public assistance impacts, simulate policy changes, and analyze benefits cliffs across various household scenarios using common rules and language across different programming platforms.
