Episode 207: Child Tax Credit Updates | Food Insecurity in New Jersey

Carol Jenkins:
Hello, I'm Carol Jenkins, and thanks for joining us for this episode of theInvisible Americans podcast. Today, we'll get an update on the expanded childtax credit locked in the Senate.

Jeff Madrick:
And I'm Jeff Madrick. We will also look at what it takes to feed hundredsof thousands of people in the state of New Jersey who are food insecure today.the Community Food Bank of New Jersey joins us.

Carol Jenkins:
But first, what's happening with the child tax credit? The AutomaticBenefit for Children, the ABC coalition, is a group of more than a hundrednational, state, and grassroots organizations with the mission of creating achild allowance or a guaranteed minimum income for children. The coalition isco-chaired by the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Children'sDefense Fund. Alex Coccia is the Senior Policy Analyst at CSSP.

Alex, thanks so much for being with us. The InvisibleAmericans podcast is delighted to be a member of the ABC coalition. So, thanksfor doing this and for bringing us up to date. It's sometimes painful in thosemeetings to hear what's happening to the expanded child tax credit Yeah, well,it's great great to be here.

Alex Coccia:
You know, we're at this point where the House of Representatives passedlegislation back in at the end of January that would expand the child taxcredit take some important steps of doing so and would benefit 16 millionchildren within families with low income and One of the important pieces ofthat legislation was what's called a look-back provision that gives familiesthat are experiencing economic setbacks a lot of flexibility in order to makesure that they can still claim the credit. We want to make sure that that pieceof legislation is not weakened in the Senate. However, we're at a point whereit is stalled in the Senate, and the ABC coalition and a number of partners areurging Senator Schumer to commit to putting the bill on the floor for a vote.We hope that that doesn't, in fact, happen in the weeks to come.

Jeff Madrick:
What do you hope doesn't happen?

Alex Coccia:
We hope that there aren't any amendments that will weaken what the Housesent over to the Senate. The main one that I think we really support as anexample of policy that provides flexibility to families who are earning lowincomes and who are going to be facing economic insecurity is that look-backprovision that allows families to use previous year income to qualify for thecredit. So we want to make sure that that stays in any version that gets passedout of the Senate.

Jeff Madrick:
Amazing that they're still trying to do away with it. I find it amazing.This group has been dedicated to a version of the Child Tax Credit for a fewyears now, our podcasts and people related to us. So we cheer you on. There'salways someone in the Senate or House who wants to foul up the works.

Alex Coccia:
We're all we're all pushing together on this. So it's great that InvisibleAmericans is part of the coalition.

Carol Jenkins:
So, Alex, let's talk a little bit more about the coalition, you know, anational state grassroots organizations, a really strong parent board. as well.How did it come about? You know, just take us through the daily work of thecoalition.

Alex Coccia:
It's the Automatic Benefit for Children Coalition, and the goal of it isreally to create a child allowance or a guaranteed income for children thatprovides families with regular meaningful assistance and promotes racial andeconomic justice. And the coalition got started prior to the expansion of thechild tax credit under the American Rescue Plan in 2021, really as a way tobuild the research groundwork, the advocacy groundwork, the coalitiongroundwork for getting a guaranteed income for kids.

As the Expanded Child Tax Credit made its way through ARPAand was being implemented, it was clear that this is a very important mechanismto get families resources that they need. And so, the coalition has reallydeveloped to focus on pushing for the Expanded Credit to be made permanent. Butalso recognizing that any agency, federal agency, that's going to administerthis credit really needs to be equipped to meet the needs of families andchildren. And so a lot of the work that the coalition does is focused onadministrative advocacy and thinking through how can the IRS better servefamilies with children.

So, we've been focused a lot on, you know, supporting IRSefforts to reduce racial disparities in auditing, to rebuild trust withcommunities who have been audited in the past. We've been focused on ways tomake sure that single parents can claim their credit effectively andefficiently through things like simplified filing portals or in this year,which is very exciting, the direct file tool. which we hope will expand in thefuture. But we also, of course, think legislatively, and so we are really lookingat 2025 as the main major opportunity to get an expanded child tax credit.That's with the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2025, and so reallyhoping to lay the groundwork in this coming year for a strong and robustpackage that expands the CTC.

And you mentioned our parent board. The work of the ABCCoalition is really guided by our parent and advisory board, and a crucial partof their work was to co-develop with a number of our member organizations a setof child allowance principles that guide for policymakers the crucial elementsto making sure that any kind of guaranteed income that is passed, whetherthrough the child tax credit or through another policy, can actually meetfamilies' needs. And so, I'm hoping we can certainly share around the link tothose principles, but those are really the set that guide our work.

Jeff Madrick:
Well, congratulations on all this expansion.

Carol Jenkins:
Thank you, Alex. It's great, great work. We're delighted to be a part ofit. And we'll be talking with members of the Parents Advisory Board as well.So, excellent work. Thank you.

Alex Coccia:
We appreciate your partnership and thanks so much.

Jeff Madrick:
So, what does it take to feed New Jersey's food insecure population? Ittakes the largest food bank in the state, the size of four football fields,where food is packaged for distribution across many of the most needy counties.We talked with Elizabeth McCarthy, President and CEO of the Community Food Bankof New Jersey.

Carol Jenkins:
Elizabeth, thanks so much for being with us today. The work that you'redoing is amazing. If you could tell us how you got engaged and a little bitabout the work.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
I worked for several decades with families living in poverty. So whetherthat was domestic violence victims, people in the child welfare and juvenilejustice systems on the mental health front. And then really during thepandemic, the organization I was working with, Sheltering Arms, found that allthe families we worked with just had a desperate need, you know, day one forfood as soon as they couldn't work. And that's really when I sort of gotinterested in this intersection between food and all the other services thatfamilies living in poverty need.

Carol Jenkins:
Well, I was shocked to discover when somebody described the space that youhave as four football fields large.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
It's a huge warehouse with an area for volunteers, an industrial kitchenfor our job training program, our culinary program, as well as lots of otherspaces for people to meet.

Jeff Madrick:
Well, let me just say this. I'm just stunned at how successful you've It isalso extraordinary that America doesn't seem to care all that much. Now, youprobably got to disagree with me because you're optimistic. But this fourfootball field size food distribution area is one example of how successfulthis has been. But tell us exactly what you do for your families.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
The Community Food Bank of New Jersey covers 15 out of the 21 counties inNew Jersey. And we have the warehouse in Hillside, the large one that you'rereferring to, and also a small warehouse in Egg Harbor Township, so down inSouth Jersey. We are providing food through a partner network of about 800pantries, soup kitchens, school feeding programs, et cetera, and really tryingto also get to some of the root causes of hunger. You know, I think there'smany misconceptions about who's hungry in this country and what the causes are.And so we're also trying to sort of make people understand who is in line inpantries and what gets them there and how people wind up there.

Jeff Madrick:
So, who's in line in pantries?

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Largely, it is people who are working or at least where, you know, familieswhere at least one person is working, often working two jobs. This is really anissue of wages not having kept up with the cost of living. And, you know, foodis one thing, one place where there are some resources available. So, familiesare coming there so that they can, you know, pay their rent and not getevicted. It's really, it's filling a gap for people, getting them from paycheckto paycheck, which is how people are living.

Carol Jenkins:
Elizabeth, talk to us about the size, the number of meals. Was it like justshy of 100 million?

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Just shy of 100 million, yeah. It is hard to get your head around that hugenumber, I know. We estimate there are about 815,000 food insecure people in thestate of New Jersey. You know, people think of New Jersey as a pretty wealthystate, but that also means it's an expensive place to live. And so, there arejust so many people living on the margins.

Carol Jenkins:
So tell us what the process is. I know that you have intake and then youhave volunteers. We're happy to have an Invisible Americans podcast team comingto participate, you know, and then the distribution. So where does that intakecome from?

Elizabeth McCarthy:
The food that comes in here comes from a number of sources. Some of it isfood that we get from the federal government. Some of it is food that wepurchase with money from the state of New Jersey and from private funding. Andthen some of it is food that is donated from all the grocery stores and chainsin New Jersey. Some of them come in here, some we can direct directly topantries. So a pantry can go and pick up from, you know, Amazon or Trader Joe'sor somebody directly rather than it having to come through here. It's one lessstep that keeps things fresh. You'll see when you come volunteer, and thank youfor doing that, that part of what you're doing then is sorting food intodifferent areas.

So because we can get a donation from, you know, Amazon thatmight be six pallets of food, but it's all different kinds of things. So,sorting that and then putting that into boxes for seniors or boxes for peopleliving with diabetes or something we call family pack, which are boxes that aresent home with children on Fridays because weekends are often a very difficulttime for people to have enough food since the children don't have meals atschool. So that is kind of the operation that happens here. And then the trucksgo back out to the pantries, the soup kitchens, et cetera, every day and bringfood from this warehouse so that it can be directly served to our neighbors.

Jeff Madrick:
Well, I just find it an amazing operation and it must have something to dowith your own energy and commitment. Are there other people who find yourcommitment contagious?

Elizabeth McCarthy:
I actually think I get it from our staff here that that's where my energyand optimism comes from. They're really an amazing group. I started here lastsummer and just right away was just so blown away by sort of the commitmentthat people really have to food insecurity. You know, people could get awarehouse job somewhere else. People could be a truck driver somewhere else,probably for more money. They're very devoted to this cause. Many have sufferedfood insecurity themselves in the past. And so I think really feel a commitmentto trying to help with our mission.

Carol Jenkins:
Talk to us about the volunteers. Is that most of the work that goes intothe sorting?

Elizabeth McCarthy:
As an organization, we have just over 300 employees, but our volunteerhours last year were 88,000 hours, which is about another 42 employees is whatit would be equal to. So a major part of our operation. I mean, we could not dowhat we do without volunteers. And so sometimes it's groups from work, likeyou, kind of, and it's team building, and it's also just a good way to giveback. Sometimes it's children's sports teams, Girl Scout troops, school groups.We really have a wide range. Families, last week we had a 24-hour pack-a-thonwhere we had people coming from 9 a.m. on Friday to 9 a.m. on Saturday. Peopleworked shifts and were able to pack 160,000 meals in that 24 hours.

Jeff Madrick:
What's the future? Is there anything like this in other states? Obviously,there are one or two bigger states than New Jersey.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Yeah, I mean, we're part of the Feeding America Network, so there are foodbanks in almost every state. I think there's one or two in the Midwest thatdon't have one but share territory with other places. We really learn fromother places. Hopefully, they learn from us. I think what's next is reallytrying, again, to get to the root causes, trying to shorten the lines atpantries to have people have more stability. It's great that we have thispantry network, and families can get very fresh food, which is anyone who wentto a food pantry even 10 years ago I think would be surprised to see whatthey're like now with fresh produce and frozen proteins and things that arereally much healthier food for families as opposed to just all canned orshelf-stable foods.

But trying to get to the point where people, whether it isthrough New Jersey, we're lucky that they have a higher SNAP benefit than insome other states, but things like the Child Tax Credit. This summer, NewJersey has a program where families will get some funding for food for over thesummer, which is great because that's a tough time when kids are not in school.So really trying to get it so that families are not wondering where their nextmeal is coming from, wondering if there's going to be enough food at thepantry, that they have consistent access to healthy food.

Carol Jenkins:
Elizabeth, tell us what you think about the certain governors of states whohave rejected summer food. I can just imagine your response.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
I honestly can't imagine. It's hard to really understand how that seemsdefensible when we're talking about children in particular. If anyone thinksthat having funding for families to feed their children in the summer is not agood idea is really hard to get my head around. And again, we're very lucky inNew Jersey that our leadership is very committed to this issue of foodinsecurity. But yeah, it's unfathomable to me. Like if you're not committed tofeeding children, then maybe you should not be leading in our government.

Carol Jenkins:
Precisely. And your experience with Sheltering Arms with all of the childcare and child development You know, you speak today about the packages goingto the homeless kids. We're watching the child tax credit got hung up in theSenate as an activist and facing, you know, this rush to get food to hungrychildren. Talk to us a little bit about that.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Often we have things that we think will work, but we don't have good data.Here we even have good data. We see what happened as soon as that child taxcredit was eliminated. The number of children living in poverty justskyrocketed. And so again, it's one where you would think that would bebipartisan. that, you know, having children not living in poverty should besomething that all of us agree with. So, it's really hard to imagine. So, it issomething that we advocate for that and, you know, keeping SNAP levels higherfor families, keeping things like work requirements out of SNAP, I think, arejust really important to keep families, again, having that consistent access.

Jeff Madrick:
When I was writing my latest book on child poverty, I had interviewed anumber of people who are already graduating college or in graduate school whoremember the summer food programs and how often their little siblings, girlsand boys, would wait at the window for the bus to come or come where it'ssupposed to park. And it was, it's just heartbreaking. I don't quite know howyour heart takes it,

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Well, I think being part of the solution at least helps with that. I thinkjust seeing, you know, again, the energy of our staff and sort of how committedpeople are to just helping other people is really, it's actually veryoptimistic work from that perspective.

Carol Jenkins:
We would like to make sure that as many volunteers as possible can findyou, so can you tell us how they do that?

Elizabeth McCarthy:
It's a very user-friendly website, cfbnj.org,communityfoodbanknewjersey.org, and there is a button that you click tovolunteer and you literally can just pick a shift. It'll show you availableshifts. You can sign people up, anybody over the age of 12. We actually do evenhave some family days where younger kids can come. We kind of set up things forthem. Because I think for children, it is such a great volunteer opportunity.

First of all, it's hard to find them when your kids areyoung. And this is so tangible. But kids understand the feeling of beinghungry, right? Even a child who knows where their next meal is coming from atleast can relate to that. And what if they didn't know? And just having thatconversation on that very basic level. I think is just very beneficial forchildren, and they can really feel part of the solution as they are packing upboxes that they know are going to other families.

Carol Jenkins:
So, Elizabeth, when we talk about kids, we have in mind small children thatwe are absolutely concerned about. But, you know, the kids in college also areoften facing this challenge to find enough to eat.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Absolutely. And I think they were actually a very invisible population.When people think of food insecurity, they don't think of students in college.But one in three college students says that at some point in their collegecareer, they are food insecure, which is just a staggering number. So we areworking with more and more colleges to set up pantries right on site so thatstudents, even if they have, you know, late classes or things like that, haveaccess to food that they can and you know, some single serve things they canthrow in a microwave because that's the life of a college student, but alsothings like produce and protein for those who have cooking facilities. It's soimportant. I mean, here are people who are trying, often working at the sametime, going to do classes to try to get themselves to a place where they'llhave an income that will sustain them. And so anything that we can do to helpthem, you know, in pursuit of that degree, I think is really important.

Carol Jenkins:
Well, Elizabeth, thank you so much for everything that you're doing, and wehope you get a flood of volunteers. Thank you for coming to volunteer. That'swonderful. We're so looking forward to it. We're very excited. Thanks for beingwith us.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Wonderful. Take care.

Jeff Madrick:
Thank you, and congratulations on all the success.

Elizabeth McCarthy:
Oh, thank you.

Carol Jenkins:
Thanks so much for joining us on the Invisible Americans podcast, availablewherever you get your podcasts. But we urge you to visit our website fortranscripts, show notes, research, and additional information about our guestsand their work. That's www.theinvisibleamericans.com.

Please follow us on social media and our new YouTubechannel. And our blog posts are up on Medium as well as our website. That'swww.theinvisibleamericans.com. Jeff and I will see you the next time.

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