Report From the NY State Comptroller Details “Troubling Child Poverty Trends”

A recent report from the Office of the New York State Comptroller details what is described as “troubling child poverty trends.”

The study by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and his staff found what DiNapoli calls “a staggering” number of children living in poverty in New York.

The Comptroller’s report said that when compared to other U.S. cities with similar population levels, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo have child poverty rates that are double the average rate of similar-sized cities.

Aqua Porter, the Executive Director of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI), said there has been some incremental progress over the last few years.

But she said more help is needed on the federal and state levels.

“In order for us to make substantial changes, we're going to have to do things like expanding the child tax credit,” said Porter, “and that's a federal program that we know made a substantial difference, because when it was in place during COVID, we lifted a lot of children out of poverty across the US.”

DiNapoli’s statement that came out with the recent report said that, “a staggering number of children live in poverty in New York,” and the Comptroller said that despite unstable economic conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, child poverty had dropped by half due to anti-poverty programs that had been expanded by the government.

DiNapoli added that, “the state and federal government have the solutions to lift more children out of poverty, and we should act with urgency to use them.

This article was originally published on WXXI.