Thursday night the leading presidential candidates took the stage in Houston for the latest debate. Earlier this summer, Voices for Human Needs took note of the fact that candidates are rarely asked debate questions about how to address poverty. This week we witnessed a number of groups and individuals who argued that presidential debates should include questions about how to solve homelessness and America’s affordable housing crisis, and about how to best address child poverty.

When the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual reports on income, poverty and health care coverage this week, CHN members were quick to weigh in with their own commentary. You can see a number of their press statements and blog posts (and lots of other resources) on our Census resource page. But meanwhile, here is a sample of what our members are saying.

For the first time since implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the number of uninsured Americans has risen – evidence of the Trump Administration’s assault on health care. U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday show 27.5 million Americans, or 8.5 percent of the population, did not have health insurance in 2018, an increase of 1.9 million over 2017.

Last month, CLASP joined Cities United in Hampton, Virginia, during the remembrance of the 400-year anniversary of the first Africans being forcibly brought to this country and enslaved. Cities United works to eliminate the violence in American cities related to African American men and boys by centering young Black men and promoting prevention instead of prosecution and intervention instead of incarceration. The group’s 90+ participating cities are committed to cutting violence in half by 2025.