(File Photo of Poverty Lane and Prosperity Lane Graphic)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) A new report warns that the end of pandemic-era relief programs has reversed historic child poverty reductions in the Keystone State and nationwide. The Pennsylvania supplemental child poverty rate averaged 11-percent between 2022 and 2024, raising soon after relief programs were cut, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation report. Leslie Boissiere, vice president for external affairs with the foundation, says when the expanded Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program were widely available, they cut child poverty to a record low, but those gains have now vanished. Boissiere notes poverty has a direct impact on the well-being of children. She says anti-poverty programs lift 8-point-5 million children out of poverty. Just the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit keep 5-point-3-million kids above the poverty line.