Spotlight on Early Childhood Education: Participation in Pre-K before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
This report uses Early Childhood Poverty Tracker data to better understand how families changed their engagement with city’s pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs in response to the pandemic. Pre-K enrollment was lower on average after the onset of the pandemic, but the drop in enrollment was relatively smaller for families with lower incomes, Black and Latino families, and immigrant families than for their counterparts. However, these children also showed disproportionately higher rates of remote learning than their peers – which research suggests may lead to poorer outcomes for children.
Spotlight on Early Childhood Education: Participation in New York City’s 3-K for All program
This report uses Early Childhood Poverty Tracker data to examine participation in New York City’s 3-K for All program, which aims to expand the universal pre-K program to the city’s three-year-old children. The report finds that only a fraction of eligible families enrolled in a 3-K program despite their high interest in the program, and the gap between program application and enrollment was larger among Black, Latino, and lower-income families than their counterparts. Those who did enroll in 3-K had much lower childcare costs than those who did not, saving an average of $450 a month.
Work and Education After the Pandemic: Who was left behind?
This report draws on in-depth interviews with Poverty Tracker participants to better understand the experiences of low-wage workers through different stages of the pandemic. Their stories show that while the effects of the pandemic may be fading for many, workers with low-wages have incurred substantial debts and continue to struggle as they re-imagine and retool their work lives.
Special Series: Health and Health Care in New York City, Second Report
This report examines healthcare utilization among New Yorkers with high health care needs who also face economic disadvantage. These New Yorkers often forgo needed care, driven by issues of access related to cost, transportation, and mobility. Inequalities were even more stark among those facing housing challenges. This work is part of a special series funded by The Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Spotlight on Housing: The looming eviction crisis
As New York State’s eviction moratorium ended on January 15th, 2021, New York City is at risk of a massive increase in evictions and homelessness, but there are policy solutions that can help address housing affordability in New York City.
Spotlight on Food Hardship in New York City
Despite the additional challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity rates in New York City remained stable between 2019 and 2020, a testament to the social policy response and efforts by the city’s emergency food distribution network. However, the rate of food hardship still remains high in New York City.
Double Pandemic: Discrimination Experiences of New Yorkers of Chinese Descent During COVID-19
New Yorkers of Chinese descent have been suffering from the “double pandemic” of COVID-19 and racial discrimination. Over half of study participants reported experiencing discrimination and one third an incident of harassment. The vast majority of New Yorkers of Chinese descent are worried about their own safety and that of loved ones.
Direct Cash Benefits during the Pandemic: Spending, saving and returning to work
After being forced into unemployment by the pandemic, direct cash benefits allowed New Yorkers to avoid material hardship while adapting to a changing labor market. Using Poverty Tracker interviews, we also find that while New Yorkers put their COVID-relief benefits to good use, they did not substitute for work. Rather the benefits helped people secure their current, and even future, economic survival while they figured out when and how, and not if, to return to work.
Life in New York City during Covid-19
Using Poverty Tracker data, we explore the impacts the COVID-19 crisis has had on employment and income, housing security, food hardship, and internet access and remote learning. The crisis exacerbated hardships across the city, but the lives of the poorest New Yorkers and communities of color have been disproportionately impacted.
Spotlight on Hunger: Food hardship in New York City is rising as New Yorkers wait for a second federal stimulus bill
As New York City and the country continue to grapple with the health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of New Yorkers struggle to feed themselves and their families.
Spotlight on COVID-19: The deepening economic insecurity and racial inequity
Using Poverty Tracker data, we find New Yorkers who were already in precarious economic positions bore the brunt of the initial economic fallout associated with COVID-19.
Paid Sick Leave in New York City: How are workers and families being protected during the COVID-19 pandemic?
While a robust paid sick policy is necessary during a pandemic to protect both people’s health and their paychecks, the Poverty Tracker reveals some of New York City’s most vulnerable, including low-income or part-time workers, continue to lose pay when sick.