Press Release

Economic Security Project Publishes New Report Highlighting Momentum – and Lessons Learned – from the Fight for the Child Tax Credit

03. 08. 2023

Report demonstrates why cash is winnable policy for families, providing a roadmap for future campaigns to successfully create or expand CTC's.

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Washington, D.C. – In the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis that plunged the economy into freefall, the expanded, monthly Child Tax Credit offered powerful, reliable resources in the form of monthly checks for nearly all American families with children. Today, Economic Security Project is publishing a new report entitled “So Much More Than a Check: Lessons Learned in the Fight for the Child Tax Credit,” which provides an insider’s account into how the program provided essential resources for parents and how champions in Washington have fought to restore the expanded monthly checks after the policy expired.

The report highlights a number of lessons learned from the fight to renew the expanded Child Tax Credit, including: 

  • The extent to which the monthly checks provided tangible, effective, and immediate benefits to recipients;
  • How the Child Tax Credit was able to establish a direct link for families to acknowledge bold government action in their lives; 
  • Why the incorporation of outreach and marketing is essential in designing this policy; and,
  • How the long-term fight for the Child Tax Credit will require allies and champions in states and in Washington to build a winning strategy centered around people’s deep-seated values and identities. 

“At the height of the pandemic, our elected officials in Washington put away partisanship to guarantee families had the financial resources necessary to cover the rising cost of housing, food, and gas. Direct cash payment policies like the expanded, monthly Child Tax Credit, kept communities afloat and demonstrated how bold economic programs can achieve lasting change for parents and kids in need. I am honored to have worked alongside such extraordinary champions – both in DC and across the country – in this fight. This is just the beginning. We will continue our work to ensure families have the cash they need to set their households on a trajectory for success,” said Natalie Foster, President and co-Founder of Economic Security Project.

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