ISSUE BRIEFING BOOK: 1 WHAT’s InsIDE? Introduction ..............................................................................................................................4 Emerging Issues: Public Health ..............................................................................................6 Connecticut Must Address the Structural Issues Causing Disproportionate Harm to the Health of Communities of Color .........................................................................................................7 Family Economic Security: Housing .....................................................................................13 Part 1: Investing in Affordable Housing will Improve the Economic Stability and Well-Being of Connecticut Residents ......................................................................................................14 Part 2: Connecticut’s Eviction Crisis Predates the COVID-19 Pandemic, and it will Only Intensify in the Pandemic’s Aftermath Unless the State Acts ................................................18 Family Economic Security: Justice ........................................................................................22 Part 1: Give Me Liberty - The Rising Toll of COVID-19 on Connecticut’s Incarcerated Populations and why Decarceration must be part of the Solution .........................................23 Part 2: Keeping Undocumented Families in Connecticut Healthy, Safe, Connected, and Together during the COVID-19 Pandemic ............................................................................30 Part 3: Centering Youth in State Care and Justice-Involved Youth During the Crisis ...........35 Family Economic Security: Employment ...............................................................................42 Part 1: Investments in Early Child Care will Expand Connecticut’s Economy and Reduce Income Inequality ..................................................................................................................43 Part 2: Connecticut’s Essential Workers Have Kept the State Afloat and Deserve Fair Compensation ........................................................................................................................48 Fiscal & Economics: Taxes and Revenue ..............................................................................56 A Progressive Tax System Will Support Connecticut’s Families and Economy ...................57 Fiscal & Economics: Budget and Spending ..........................................................................65 Maintaining Government Spending Will Support Connecticut’s Families and Economy ....66 Federal Landscape .................................................................................................................73 More Federal Actions Are Required If Connecticut Is To Stave Off An Economic Depression And Rebuild Equitably ..........................................................................................................74 ISSUE BRIEFING BOOK: WHAT’s INSIDE? 2 Connecticut Town-Level Data ................................................................................................79 How to Use Town-by-Town Indicators ..................................................................................80 Town-by-Town Emerging Issues Indicators ............................................................................................ 82 Town-by-Town Family Economic Security Indicators ............................................................................ 88 Town-by-Town Fiscal and Economic Indicators ..................................................................................... 94 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................100 Endnotes ...............................................................................................................................101 ISSUE BRIEFING BOOK: WHAT’s INSIDE? 3 INTRODUCTION We are pleased to present Connecticut Voices for Children’s Issue Briefing Book 2020-2022. We have provided versions of this document to state legislators and thought-leaders throughout the 25 years of our organization’s history. Given our new, strategic aim toward economic justice and these unprecedented times, we have refreshed the document so that Connecticut policymakers have shared knowledge around the research and recommendations that are fundamental to family economic security, with the hope of advancing shared action. In Connecticut, we are currently experiencing the convergence of a health crisis, an economic recession due to that crisis, and a contentious and long-overdue conversation on race. Historically invisible communities are now visible, and their challenges have been brought to the public policy discourse. At Connecticut Voices for Children, we see this time of strife and upheaval as an opportunity to join together and take the bold actions necessary to tackle the structural foundations that create racial, income and wealth inequalities in our state. COVID-19 has revealed and exacerbated structural and systemic inequities that disproportionately harm Connecticut’s communities of color. As of late June, Black and Latinx individuals have died at higher age- adjusted rates than white individuals in Connecticut.1 While the effects of COVID-19 on communities’ health are still emerging, present data shows that the death rate for our state’s Black population is 250% higher than whites, and the death rate of the Latinx population is 67% higher than for the white population.2 Black and Latinx workers in the state are disproportionately on the frontlines during this pandemic and have simultaneously experienced higher rates of unemployment than white workers, both of which are directly correlated to the health outcomes we are seeing.3 However, government-sponsored segregation and the systemic prevention of wealth accumulation have also played a role. The results of these inequities have been devastatingly epic. Although the state has developed some of the nation’s leading education and health systems, family and community economic disparities threaten to undermine progress and affect parents’ ability to support their children.4 Economic inequality has increased substantially over the last four decades in Connecticut, and these income and wealth inequalities negatively impact children from working- and middle-income families, causing additional harm to children of color.5 Without corrective policies, the COVID-19 recession will only worsen Connecticut’s inequalities; thus, the state needs to act now. ISSUE BRIEFING BOOK: INTRODUCTION 4 In this Issue Briefing Book 2020-2022, Connecticut Voices for Children identifies research-based policies that will put Connecticut on the road to an equitable recovery. We urge policymakers to seize this moment and address racial and socio-economic barriers that deny opportunities to all our children and families. Included in this “book” are data relevant to the: • emerging public health issues and the structural issues causing disproportionate harm to the health of communities of color; • family economic security issues of affordable housing, criminal justice and keeping families together, as well as fair employment; • undergirding fiscal and economic issues, and the import of maintaining spending throughout the recession as well as creating a progressive tax system; and • federal issues that can help support the state’s equitable recovery. In order to help with the digestion of the Issue Briefing Book 2020-2022, please note that the aforementioned bulleted umbrella issues start with a full-page graphic that includes white-lettered headers highlighted in blue, and most end with additional enclosures. (Additional enclosures are only included in the full document). Some of the umbrella issues have sections (e.g. family economic security includes housing, justice, and employment) and within some of these sections are parts (e.g. housing is split into two parts: affordable housing and evictions), which are also indicated by a full-page graphic (marking which issue/section/part you are currently viewing). Each issue/section/part is designed so it can be read as a standalone; however, the more you roll the parts together, the more comprehensive it is. As a reading tip, the bolded blue-lettered sub-headers within each issue/section/part, read together, tell a story about that issue/section/part. Additionally, and for your convenience, we have linked everything in the table of contents entitled, “What’s Inside?” (if you are reading this electronically). So, if you would like to peruse a specific issue/section/part/enclosure without scrolling through the whole document, simply click on the line of your choice. Lastly, a note about the development and design of the Issue Briefing Book 2020-2022. We, at Connecticut Voices for Children, are not in this work alone and know that our work is only strengthened by collaboration and partnership. It is our privilege to be in community with so many amazing organizations and individuals, a handful of whom are included in the “Acknowledgments” page (at the end of the document). While this list is not an exhaustive list of our partners, our intention is to lift-up the work of others. We are so grateful to everyone for their time and talent—thank you! Connecticut Voices for Children envisions a thriving and equitable state where all children achieve their full potential. We are a research-based advocacy organization