Economic Security and Opportunity

Families must be able to meet their basic needs to thrive and find good jobs that pay well and are reliable. Maine Equal Justice works to ensure people can meet their basic needs—including food, housing, and health care—and access pathways out of poverty. In order to truly advance economic security and opportunity for every Mainer, we also must address systemic racism and sexism, which we know are bound up in economic injustice.

Increasing economic security and opportunity through Anti-Poverty Legislation

During the 2019 legislative session, Maine Equal Justice partnered with many others to successfully advocate for the adoption of the bipartisan Invest in Tomorrow bill package – LD 1772 and LD 1774.  

LD 1774, An Act to Reduce Child Poverty by Leveraging Investments so Families can Thrive (LIFT), and LD 1772, An Act to Secure Transitions to Economic Prosperity for Maine Families and Children (STEP) offer key reforms that create more pathways out of poverty and hardship and into stability and prosperity.

For information on what these bills do, see our fact sheet on LIFT and STEP. The Invest in Tomorrow initiative is an ongoing effort that offers more solutions for child poverty.

Rewarding work by increasing the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

The Earned Income Tax Credit provides extra income to low-wage workers. Nationally, the EITC has a long history of successfully lifting working families out of poverty. In addition to the federal EITC, Maine has its own state EITC, which supplements the amount people receive in their refund. Importantly, the EITC is a refundable tax credit, meaning that if someone is owed more than they owe in taxes, they will receive the difference. Numerous studies show that working-family tax credits boost work effort. In addition, research shows that by boosting the employment of single mothers, the EITC reduces the number of female-headed households receiving cash assistance.

Thanks to 2019 legislation Maine Equal Justice helped work to pass, the Maine state EITC was increased to 15% for families with qualifying children, and 25% for individuals without qualifying children. It will also open eligibility up to people without qualifying children who are between the ages of 18 and 24 for the first time. This will directly impact about 100,000 low-and middle-income households in Maine.

Increasing economic security through access to basic supports

Food

Families need adequate, affordable food to live, work, and raise healthy and happy kids. Unfortunately, Maine has a persistent hunger problem. We lag New England and the country in terms of the number of people in our state who worry that they won’t have enough to eat, or don’t have enough to eat (“food insecurity”). Maine ranks fifth worst in the nation for very low food security—that’s deep hunger—and in the top 10 of the nation’s most overall food insecure states.  Maine Equal Justice helps lead efforts to address Maine’s hunger problem by ensuring access to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides nutrition assistance to Maine people with low incomes. Find more information about our work on Hunger and Food Assistance policy.

Transportation

People need reliable, affordable transportation to access economic opportunity. A lack of transportation is a major barrier to getting and keeping a job, especially in rural areas of our state. Research has shown that, among people who access anti-poverty programs, those who own cars are more likely to be employed, work more hours, and earn more than those who do not. Without reliable, affordable transportation, families with limited incomes cannot access employment, are more likely to miss doctor’s appointments, cannot get their children to child care, and cannot participate in community events.

In addition to making work or education possible, car ownership improves the overall well-being of families. Everything from grocery shopping to taking kids to activities becomes easier and takes less effort, time and resources. The additional time and resources could mean a world of difference for a family struggling to make ends meet.

Quality and Affordable Child Care

Families need quality, affordable childcare and early learning to access economic opportunity. Parents and caregivers need increased access to quality, affordable childcare and early learning so they can sustain employment, and children need the support and learning necessary for healthy development. What’s more, research – such as the 2013 Trostel Report – demonstrate the “return on investment,” or significant “fiscal payoff of investment in early childhood development in Maine.”

Maine Equal Justice is a member of the Right From the Start Coalition, which works to ensure that all Maine children have the opportunity for healthy development through early care and education that is accessible and of high quality, from birth to eight, and no matter where families live in Maine. In order to make this a reality, the state should consider the strategies outlined below. Additional policy ideas are reviewed in a 2017 report from the Maine Women’s Lobby,  Maine Children’s Alliance, and YWCA Central Maine, Investing in Our Future: How Maine can Prepare our Children to  Become Tomorrow’s Leaders.

• Increase access to quality early care and education by expanding Head Start and Educare. Studies have documented the long-term benefits of Head Start later in life linking participation in the program to improved college enrollment, health status and chances of being employed. There is a demonstrated shortage of available spaces for the Head Start program in Maine. The expansion of Head Start as well as Early Head Start, which provides early care and education for infants and toddlers (up to age three), is an evidence-based solution that would benefit our state.
  
  Maine would also benefit from expanding the availability of “full day” and “full year” Head Start for children ages four and up, which expands the number of hours the program is available in a day and the number of days in a year that it is available to families. This would enable more parents with low income to work or obtain training while their children are in a quality early childcare and learning environment. The Educare model piloted in Waterville, which is based on research from early childhood development, education, social work and other allied fields, incorporates key best practices like professional development, high-quality teaching practices and intensive family engagement. This model should be replicated in other areas.
• Streamline and improve access to the Child Care Subsidy Program (CCSP). Until recently, there was a time consuming and burdensome two-step application process for the child care subsidy program – a program that provides assistance to eligible families who need help paying for child care if they work, are in school, participate in a job training program, or are retired and the legal guardian of a child. While there are changes being made by DHHS to help streamline the application process, including bringing full administration of the program into the Office of Child and Family Services, there’s more that can be done to make the process for applicants less burdensome. For example, DHHS could use data already collected and verified by DHHS for other programs (like SNAP) to serve as a proxy for financial eligibility for the CCSP program. This would save applicants and Department staff time, and would mean applicants could more quickly secure the childcare supports they need to get to work or school.

Education and training for adults

Maine Equal Justice works to ensure adults with low incomes can access education and training opportunities to increase their earning capacity and access economic opportunity. Making sure adult learners have access to supports, like childcare and transportation, along with guidance from on-campus personnel, helps them complete their education. In addition, people who have re-located to Maine often bring talents and skills that can help fill Maine’s workforce skills gap. More support for English language learning, including vocation-specific English language training, would give more people a solid steppingstone into Maine’s workforce.

Maine Equal Justice has worked to create programs that help provide supports to low-income students to set them up for success. Find more information about our work on Education and Training for Adults policy.

Maine Equal Justice hears regularly from people who want to go back to school or get more training seeing this as a pathway out of poverty. Unfortunately, people don’t always know about opportunities that are available. The Department of Health and Human Services, educational institutions, and career centers can help people access these programs that make education and training possible for people struggling to afford it.

Recognizing that we need to do more to increase awareness about and access to the Parents as Scholar (PaS) program, in 2019, the legislature created a working group tasked with making recommendations about the design of the new PaS navigation services, and how PaS and the HOPE program can best contribute to the Maine Spark goal of increasing the number of Maine adults with a post-secondary degree or credential.

If you have questions about getting support for your education, please visit our legal assistance page.