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Expanded assistance, material hardship, and helping others during the Covid-19 crisis

“Until the virus, you have to be … in a really, really bad shape to get all the services that’s been given to us now. But before the virus, people didn’t care.”
— African American man in his early 60s interviewed by the American Voices Project

As the Covid-19 pandemic and unemployment persist, many people are at risk of long-term economic distress, though the impacts of the pandemic-induced recession are not spread equally. Using immersive interviews from the American Voices Project, our latest report documents experiences of hardship and explores attitudes toward the CARES Act. 

Key findings:
  • The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated hardship for many of those already experiencing difficulties prior to the pandemic.
     
  • The CARES Act cushioned the blow for many who lost income due to the pandemic, but many still struggled to get by.
     
  • Some who were better off felt relief was unnecessary for them and could have been better directed to those most in need.
     
  • Those excluded from government support, due to either eligibility or access constraints, often turned to families and friends, took on debt, or limited their spending. Those who received inadequate government support frequently resorted to the same strategies.
     
  • Many respondents spoke positively of relief efforts, and expressed that additional, yet more targeted, support was needed. This may suggest a policy window for longer-term expansion of safety net programs.

READ THE REPORT

The “Monitoring the Crisis” series is cosponsored by the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The American Voices Project gratefully acknowledges support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at Princeton University; the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, and San Francisco; the Ford Foundation; The James Irvine Foundation; the JPB Foundation; the National Science Foundation; the Pritzker Family Foundation; and the Russell Sage Foundation. The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality is a program of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences.

The views expressed here are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Federal Reserve System, Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, or the organizations that supported this research. Any remaining errors are the authors’ responsibility.


Copyright © 2021 stanfordcpi, All rights reserved.


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