This new federal program is expected to help hundreds of thousands of Hawaiʻi kids

“This is really a good thing for families in Hawaiʻi,” Beth Giesting, director of the Hawaiʻi Budget & Policy Center, said. “We know alleviating poverty in children makes a lifetime of difference for those children.”

Giesting said that the tax credit will benefit communities of color, including Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan and Marshallese communities that prior to the pandemic reported above-average poverty rates.

The vast majority of the Hawaiʻi children eligible to receive the credit are from communities of color, with 87 percent of them non-white, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Giesting also noted the credit is expected to particularly help people who work in service industries such as cashiers, cooks, child care workers, food preparation workers and janitors.