Across America, millions of parents are desperately trying to eke out an existence on starvation wages… and it is not going well.
More than one in four minimum wage earners is a parent, and their starvation wages are putting the futures of millions of kids at risk. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation:
“Poverty and financial stress can impede children’s cognitive development and their ability to learn. It can contribute to behavioral, social and emotional problems and poor health."
According to the Casey Foundation, 21 percent of American children live in poverty, with even higher rates among black and latino Americans. Unemployment may be at its lowest since the Great Recession of 2008, but job creation has been concentrated in lower-wage employment, with many working families earning the federal minimum wage of just $7.25 an hour — or a little more than $15,000 annually.
Senator Bernie Sanders has just introduced legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour — a proposal that could lift millions of children out of poverty.
Please take a stand for our kids! Sign this urgent petition to urge your Senators and Representative to support the Sanders bill to raise the minimum wage.