An organization which focuses on the well-being of children and other young people likes much of what it sees in the provincial government’s poverty reduction measures announced last week, but it hopes to see changes in eligibility criteria.
The Nutrition Supplement for children has been expanded from 0-1 year-old to 0-5 years-old, and the NL Child Benefit has been tripled. In addition, meal programs in the secondary school system will be enhanced with public money.
The Jimmy Pratt Foundation in St. John’s previously authored a report on child poverty, and that is the lens through which they’re looking at the measures.
Currently, a family of any size that has an income of over $27,000 is ineligible for the benefits. Even someone supporting a family on minimum wage would be bringing in too much money a year—about $30,000 a year—to qualify.
Foundation spokesperson Neria Aylward hopes to see some changes in the income threshold.
She says that $30,000 family could be really struggling, so they hope to see changes in the $27,000 limit and also to the poverty line income definition, which is $50,000 per family.