Western Center signed onto a letter led by Children’s Defense Fund, First Focus Campaign for Children, and Coalition on Human Needs, with close to 170 national, state, and local organizations, calling for Senator Wyden’s Pandemic TANF Assistance Act (S. 3672), the next COVID-19 relief package. This critical bill would create a $10 billion Coronavirus Emergency Assistance Grant Program that would provide essential funding for states, territories, and tribes to address the unmet needs of families and individuals living at 200 percent or below the federal poverty line (FPL). Importantly, this fund would allow states to provide emergency cash assistance to families and individuals that have been left out of other relief measures like unemployment insurance (UI), including individuals returning from jail or prison and survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, and young people from low-income neighborhoods just entering the labor market, among others.
