Publication Type: Report

WIC Participation Declines Leave Vulnerable Families More Exposed as Congress Targets Fruit and Vegetable Benefits

  • Post author
  • Project  Improving Family Economic Security Through Evidence-Based State Policy Reforms; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date July 24, 2026

Participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (or WIC program) fell sharply and rapidly between October 2025 and February 2026, resulting in nearly a quarter of a million fewer individuals receiving the benefit. The loss of this resource increases parents’ stress by destabilizing families’ budgets, worsening short- and long-term outcomes […]

National Center for Children in Poverty Releases 2025/2026 TANF Cash Assistance Policy Series

  • Post author ,
  • Project  Improving Family Economic Security Through Evidence-Based State Policy Reforms; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date May 18, 2026

The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Bank Street Graduate School of Education has released its 2025/2026 TANF Cash Assistance Policy Series to help support policymakers and advocates in strengthening vital supports for families with children.

Partnering with Faith Communities to Expand Early Care and Education Access for Children in Foster Care

  • Post author , , , , ,
  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date December 1, 2025

The Arkansas Office of Early Childhood is collaborating with SRI, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to learn about the supply, quality, and stability of early care and education (ECE) for Arkansas children in foster care, as well as factors that promote or reduce access to […]

Missing Out on What Matters: Early Care and Education Quality and Stability Gaps for Children in Foster Care

  • Post author , , , , ,
  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date September 1, 2025

The Arkansas Office of Early Childhood is collaborating with SRI International, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to learn about the supply, quality, and stability of early care and education (ECE) for children in foster care, as well as factors that promote or reduce access to […]

Methods for Meaningful Connection: Supporting Teacher-Child Relationships in Early Care and Education

  • Post author , , ,
  • Project  Supporting Teacher-Child Relationships in Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date July 1, 2025

This brief reports on the results of a pilot project that had two goals related to current gaps in our understanding of Teacher-Child Relationships (TCRs). The first goal was to learn more about salient themes in teachers reflections on TCRs, including how they see their role in shaping these relationships and their understanding of why […]

Settlement House American Rescue Plan (SHARP) Impact Study Wave 2 Brief

  • Post author , , , , , , , , , ,
  • Project  Settlement House American Rescue Plan (SHARP) Impact Study; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date February 28, 2024

The Study NCCP contributed to the design and implementation of the Settlement House American Recovery Plan (SHARP) Impact Study, a mixed-method study of parents at New York City settlement houses from 2021-23, during the pandemic recovery period. The Study focused on access to the Expanded Child Tax Credit and other programs available through the ARP. […]

Benefit Cliffs Affecting Kentucky Families and Related Policy Recommendations

  • Post author ,
  • Project  Kentucky Family Resource Simulator/Benefit Cliff Project; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date December 15, 2023

NCCP’s report on Benefit Cliffs Affecting Kentucky Families and Related Policy Recommendations includes estimated costs of benefit cliffs to parents and their children and, more broadly, the negative impacts of the cliffs on the economic health of the state. Based on the results and existing guidelines of state-specific benefit policies, the report presents recommendations for […]

Improving Participation in High-Quality Early Care and Education for Young Arkansas Children: Perspectives of Resource Parents and Early Childhood Educators

  • Post author , , , , ,
  • Project  Improving Participation of Children in Foster Care in Stable, High Quality Early Care and Education; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date December 1, 2023

High-quality early care and education (ECE) provides a developmentally supportive environment for children in foster care that can help address early adversities, but recent studies have shown low levels of ECE participation among these children (Klein et al., 2016; Lee, 2020). To address this important issue, the Arkansas Office of Early Childhood (OEC) is collaborating […]

A New Approach to Supporting the Quality of Early Care and Education Programs in Arkansas: Case Studies of Array

  • Post author , , , ,
  • Project  Arkansas’ Implementation of Suspension and Expulsion Reduction Policies (ARISE); 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date November 29, 2023

A recently launched professional development initiative in Arkansas, called Array, is designed to proactively identify early care and education (ECE) programs that could benefit from social-emotional-focused (SE-focused) professional development and support, and to offer assistance tailored to a program’s particular needs. Because Array is designed to initiate contact with ECE programs, it has the potential […]

Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health in Home Visiting Programs Serving Diverse Families: Promising Strategies to Support Child and Family Well-Being

  • Post author , , , , , ,
  • Project  PRiSM: Promoting Research-informed State Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Policies and Scaled Initiatives; 
  • Publication Type  Report 
  • Post date September 11, 2023

Given the central importance of positive parent and infant-early childhood mental health to children’s long-term mental health and development, it is important to examine a wide range of approaches that show promise for strengthening supports for parent and infant-early childhood mental health in home visiting programs, especially programs serving diverse families. This report provides a […]