Although the emergency and the consequences left by COVID-19 in New York seem like a matter already overcome, Some assembly members are trying to push this week to approve “baby bonuses” for those children who They lost a parent or caregiver as a result of this pandemic.
The discussion of how and where the funds will be invested $233 billion expected for the New York State budget, in the next fiscal year, will last until after Easter, between the legislative blocs and Governor Kathy Hochul. And in this scenario, a Democratic legislative group is trying against all odds to get this relief program on the priority list.
“We are making every effort and We will seek support until the last minute, so that this legislation is approved“, he said on Friday the 29th The newspaper Queens Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, who is one of the promoters of this initiative.
In New York State alone, almost 18,000 children lost a primary or secondary caregiver because of this public health emergency.
$1,000 up to age 18
The legislation S6592 proposed in committees in both chambers of the state legislature, would establish trust funds from deposits of $1,000 for New York children who lost a guardian to COVID.
The account would earn an additional $1,000 per year until the child turns 18 years old.
Once they reach the age of majority, those eligible can access these publicly funded savings accounts to cover qualified living expenses, like college or starting a small business.
If baby bonuses are approved, New York would rank second in the United States, behind California, which allocated $100 million in the state budget for the Hope, Opportunity, Perseverance and Empowerment for Children Trust Account Fund.
The initiative, which was presented last year, is being sponsored by the state senator Jamal Baileywho represents parts of The Bronx and Westchester.
“Though nothing can fill the void left by a parent, grandparent or caregiver during crucial moments in a child’s life, “This legislation is a way to show our young people that, despite their unimaginable loss, we support them, believe in them and are committed to investing in their future,” Bailey told local media.
Racial disproportion in NYC
As described in a report by the Journalism Investigative Unit of Columbia University and the publication City Limits, only in the Big Apple “more than 8,600 have lost a parent or caregiver to COVIDa population that would completely fill 15 medium-sized urban schools.”
The city’s black, Hispanic and Asian children were approximately three times more likely to have lost a parent or caregiver due to the pandemic, compared to their white peers.
These racial disparities in New York City were more pronounced than in the rest of the country.
According to data from the National Institutes of Health, it is estimated that 216,000 children lost a live-in caregiver to COVID-19 in the United Stateswhile 77,000 lost a parent and 17,000 lost the only caregiver in the home.
Overall, the study shows that approximately 1 in 500 children in the country have experienced orphanhood associated with COVID-19 or the death of a grandparent caregiver.
“There were racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in caregiver deaths associated with COVID-19: racial and ethnic minority children accounted for the 65% of those who lost a primary caregiver due to the pandemic,” pondered this analysis.
Black and Latino children in the country had more than twice as likely to lose a caregiver as white children.
According to NIH data, the 70% of the caregivers lost were children of color under the age of 14.
The aftermath of COVID-19:
- 4,200 children suffered the death of their parents in New York, only during the bloodiest months of this pandemic, that is, between March and July 2020, according to a United Hospital Fund analysis.
- 57% of these children They lived in the poorest neighborhoods of The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
- 325,000 children have been pushed into poverty or on the verge of it as a result of the economic crisis of the pandemic, the same investigation maintains.
2024-03-31 14:25:27
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