One year ago on March 11, 2021, President Biden made history by signing the American Rescue Plan into law.  The celebrated American Rescue Plan was not just a commitment to rise from the joint health and economic crises from the past few years, it positioned our nation to evaluate real-world tools to take steps towards an equitable economy by addressing child poverty, housing instability and credit failures. The tax provisions in the American Rescue Plan offered us the ability to see what the tax code would look like if we started to turn it right-side up. The legislation also directed approximately $50 billion to address the housing crisis that the pandemic made deeper, wider and more unyielding.  

As the COVID-19 pandemic was rearing its head and exacerbating long-standing inequities, especially in BIPOC communities, this bill made history by reducing child poverty by 30%, lowering the foreclosure rate, and increasing access for small businesses to credit. But while celebrating the successes of the American Rescue Plan, we also need to look forward to the policies we still need in order to build on and sustain these positive outcomes.  

Without provisions like the expanded Child Tax Credits and funding for housing programs, there is no racial economic justice in the next big Congressional package. With this bill, Congress has the opportunity to continue and expand some of the legislation’s most important provisions to help low-income and BIPOC households. By including language that sustains stable, affordable housing, expanded tax credits for low- and moderate-income households and small business relief targeted to BIPOC communities, we can continue building on the success of the American Rescue Plan. And that’s a great cause for celebration and continued advocacy to ensure all of us can live and thrive with dignity and prosperity.