Census poverty data for 2023 highlights the importance of government assistance
Promising trends for families across the nation, but many continue to feel the lasting effects of widespread unemployment during the pandemic, a rising cost of living, and inadequate government assistance.
How Hawaiʻi’s hardworking undocumented immigrants support our economy and communities
A new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy lifts up the significant tax contributions that undocumented immigrants make to our federal, state and local governments through the taxes they pay each year.
Congress considers making the federal Child Tax Credit refundable; Hawaiʻi considers Keiki Credit
H.R. 7024 is a reminder that the Child Tax Credit is a widely popular program with proven anti-poverty benefits.
Legislative agenda 2023: tax reforms to boost incomes and fund investments in our future
Top of the list of immediate challenges for Hawaiʻi is to find a way to prevent our people from being overwhelmed by the high and rising cost of living in the islands.
What made the 2022 Hawaiʻi legislative session a win for working families?
After multiple years with little progress on policy to help working families survive Hawaiʻi’s highest-in-the-nation cost of living, several factors came together to deliver a banner year in 2022.
Hawaiʻi should eliminate its tipped sub-minimum wage
Research shows that employers frequently exploit tip credit provisions to pay their employees beneath the legal minimum wage. As a result, tipped workers tend to earn lower, less consistent wages than non-tipped workers, and they are more likely to experience poverty.
Put more money in working people’s pockets and reduce housing costs
This legislative session, Hawaiʻi Appleseed is pushing hard to implement a significant minimum wage increase, expand successful tax credits for low-income families, and lay the groundwork for housing policy that will mean no one in Hawaiʻi is left unsheltered because of poverty.
Federal spending reduced overall poverty last year despite the pandemic-recession
But in Hawaiʻi, tens of thousands of residents below the poverty line still struggled to make ends meet.
Lawmakers must do more to invest in Hawaiʻi regenerative agriculture
The success of sustainable agriculture in Hawaiʻi will be contingent on sizable government investments in both small-scale farmers and the agencies that serve them.
How COVID-19 shaped Appleseed’s work in 2020
The year 2020 was a turbulent one, but it proved the power of Hawaiʻi’s greatest strength—its people.
Appleseed provides language access to second round of P-EBT benefits
Hawaiʻi Appleseed has created and published a series of multi-lingual infographics to assist families in need, many of whom speak a primary language other than English.
This Labor Day, Hawaiʻi’s workers need more help than ever
Hawaiʻi’s workers keep our state and economy going through good times and bad. This upcoming Labor Day, they desperately need support to weather what’s become a storm of record unemployment.
Appleseed COVID-19 response will focus on assisting state in managing social safety net programs
During this crisis, Appleseed’s concern lies with the working families and children of Hawaiʻi.
No cause for panic: Hawaiʻi’s economy is OK
A quarter of slow growth is no reason for lawmakers to forgo important economic justice measures like raising the minimum wage.
Honolulu just moved to the forefront of vacation rental regulation
After 30 years, the county finally has the tools it needs to stop the proliferation of illegal short-term rentals.
Enforcement of vacation rental regulations would restore balance
More than one out of every 20 housing units statewide is now offered as a vacation rental; in some communities, as many as four out of every 10 housing units have been converted into STRs.
How high is too high? We actually know a lot about minimum wage increases
Raising the minimum wage would boost not just the pay of many struggling Hawaiʻi workers and their families; it would also boost the local economy.
Appleseed announces 2019 policy agenda
After months of research spent examining these critical issues, this agenda prioritizes efforts for maximum benefit to the community at-large.
Public charge rule change would hurt Hawaiʻi’s economy
Not only would the proposed rule change adversely impact the standard of living of Hawaiʻi’s immigrant families, it would also harm Hawaiʻi’s overall economy.
After school supper is a big missed opportunity in Hawaiʻi
Only 182 Hawaiʻi children benefited from after school suppers on an average weekday in 2017, according to a new report from the Food Research and Action Center.