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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: MO Children, Families to Benefit from Child Tax Credit Expansion

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Wednesday, June 23, 2021   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is ranked 30th among states for overall child wellbeing in a new report, and advocates for kids and families say the pandemic has underscored the need for strong supports.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Book shows 17% of Missouri children lived in poverty in 2019, though that number was down from 2010 and 7% of children lacked health insurance. But in the pandemic, many more households lost income and health coverage.

Tracy Greever-Rice, program director for Kids Count Missouri, added even as the state makes progress in many areas, racial disparities persist.

"It's a perpetual issue in the state of Missouri," Greever-Rice explained. "And one that we focus on through an equity lens more and more, to try and ameliorate."

According to a Census Bureau national survey, since the pandemic, Black and Latino households with children reported far more concerns than white households on issues ranging from mental health and access to health insurance, to ability to pay their rent or mortgage on time and put food on the table.

The American Rescue Plan includes expanding the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 a year to up to $3,600 per child, depending on their age. Payments start in July, and Greever-Rice contended they'll be a big help to Missouri families.

"It will improve their ability to make their day-in-day-out life's work, and to ensure that their children have adequate access to childcare that is of high quality, safe and nurturing," Greever-Rice asserted.

Missouri is one of the remaining hold-out states for Medicaid expansion. Despite voters' approval in 2020, the state Legislature has so far refused to fund it, and a court ruling is expected soon.

Leslie Boissiere, vice president of external affairs for the Foundation, said because the American Rescue Plan includes extra incentives for expanding Medicaid, it's time.

"And we've seen the states who have Medicaid expansion have a significant lower number of children and families who are uninsured," Boissiere observed.

Disclosure: Annie E. Casey Foundation contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Education, Juvenile Justice, and Welfare Reform. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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