YARMOUTH — I vividly remember that one of my high school teachers always had lots of food in his classroom – usually fruit, rice cakes and other snacks – and let his students take whatever they wanted or needed.

When I asked him why he always had so much food on hand, he pointed out that many of his students did not get enough to eat at home, and that it is hard for students to learn while they are hungry.

He explained that he made whatever efforts he could to ensure that all of his students had the opportunity to get the most out of school. So, among other things, he stocked his classroom with healthy food.

That conversation was enlightening and was one of the first times that I realized how growing up in a family struggling to make ends meet affects every part of a kid’s life – at home, at school and in the future. Looking back, I now recognize that many of my schoolmates were part of families fighting day to day just to get by.

Today, families like these have powerful tools to help make ends meet: the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. These pro-work tax credits allow millions of hardworking Americans to keep more of what they earn, so they can keep working and provide the basic necessities for their children, such as clothes, food, and a roof over their heads.

I serve on the board of the Maine Children’s Alliance, a nonprofit organization committed to improving the lives of Maine’s children, youth and families.

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At the Maine Children’s Alliance, we advocate for many policies that affect Mainers’ lives, and the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are two of the most powerful and successful tools we have to promote work and help working families build a more secure future.

I grew up in a small, rural Maine community alongside many children whose families faced the very same child wellness and developmental issues on which the Maine Children’s Alliance focuses. In this small community, I personally learned how crucial financial security is to a family’s success.

My mother, who was a single parent, fought to provide a safe, stable life for her three kids. However, many of my peers were not as fortunate. Some were raised in turbulent homes, and still more suffered from a lack of support, resources, food and security that so many of us take for granted.

But if Congress does not act, key provisions of these tax credits will expire, and thousands of working families with children in Maine will lose this crucial piece of their family budgets. About 64,000 children in 37,000 Maine families will lose some or all of their working-family tax credits, and 16,000 children will descend into – or deeper into – poverty.

For families struggling to make ends meet and working hard to give their children every chance at success, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are incredibly important. When you operate in the small margin between making it and not, every little bit helps. For those who work hard every day at one or more jobs, these tax credits help their families afford the basics to stay afloat.

And we know that kids do better when their families do better. Research shows that children in families that receive a boost like Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are healthier, perform better in school, are more likely to go to college and earn more as adults.

I learned early on that the effects of poverty touch the lives of all of us, and when we can help, we should. We all benefit when others succeed, become healthy, productive members of our communities, and contribute to our economy and our civic life.

Although we cannot all have the daily direct influence on Maine kids that my high school teacher did – stocking food in classrooms for the children who needed it most – we can honor his kindness, generosity and giving spirit by fighting to keep the current Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit intact for working families.


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