Reducing Child Poverty in Maryland

Project Context:

• Maryland wants to dramatically reduce child poverty in the state. Currently, 1 in 8 Maryland children live in poverty, which has long-term impacts on their health, well-being, and economic outlook.
• Maryland has taken steps to increase economic resources for low-income families including by increasing the minimum wage, expanding the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), and making additional investments in programs like the Child Care Scholarship Program and SUN Bucks.

How the GPL is Supporting:

• Helping Maryland design targeted outreach strategies to help priority population groups more easily access economic benefits.
• Supporting the state’s efforts to make benefits systems more efficient and responsive to families’ needs. This can be done in several ways:
  • Reduce the administrative burdens that families experience when applying for programs.
  • Improve human-centered design practices in order to consider how families experience the process of applying for benefits.
  • Strengthen operational processes so more families can access and renew enrollment.
• Helping Maryland increase the supply and affordability of key resources for families, such as high-quality child care.
• Leveraging learnings from these efforts to support Maryland in developing performance management tools and practices that advance progress toward the state’s child poverty goals.