Low Income

We should use Referendum C money to help make up for past funding cuts to community colleges, junior colleges and state colleges throughout Colorado, giving priority to institutions serving and demonstrating a commitment to low-income, underserved and rural students.

Colorado should work with federal, local and private partners, and it should greatly increase its own investment so Colorado???s housing trust fund can provide a level of assistance that will truly make a difference for low and moderate-income families seeking affordable housing. Ultimately, the state government and its partners should collectively provide at least $25 million annually to the fund.

Colorado should increase its EITC from 10 percent to at least 20 percent of the federal credit. And it should make the credit available in all years, not just when there is a TABOR surplus.

This report is about Coloradans who work hard, families who struggle, and a state that could benefit economically if it did more to help.

The Working Poor Families Project has spent three years working in 15 states to examine both the conditions of low-income working families and public policies that can help improve their lives. This report builds on that work and takes a broader look at low-income working families across the nation and key facets of an economic and public system that affect their ability to achieve economic security.

A policy brief explaining the achievement gap between students in Colorado schools

A presentation on the Bell Policy Center's report, "Opportunity Lost: When Hard Work Isn't Enough for Colorado Families."

A Rocky Mountain News Point/Counterpoint stating that in a nation that values hard work and self-reliance, no one should have to work full-time for wages that leave a family in poverty. As a simple matter of fairness - and to strengthen families and encourage work - it is time to raise Colorado's minimum wage.

A Denver Post Sunday Perspective asserting that raising the minimum wage by voting for Amendment 42 is morally right and economically right.

A Boulder Daily Camera commentary in support of a legislative proposal to expand the earned income tax credit (EITC), a refundable tax credit that helps low-income families