View Research by Author - Ajay Chaudry

More about Ajay Chaudry's areas of expertise can be found on this Urban Institute expert's page.

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/AjayChaudry

This fact sheet is the first in a series of publications on children of immigrants in the United States that updates the Urban Institute's May 2006 fact sheet that described the circumstances of these children in the early 2000s. The current fact sheet examines immigration trends and finds that children of immigrants are the fastest growing segment of the nation's children population - while the number of children of natives increased by 2.1 million between 1990 and 2007, children of immigrants grew by 8.1 million accounting for 77 percent of the growth of the U.S. children population during this time.

Up-to-date state information on children of immigrants is essential for social policies that affect children and families. This brief, accompanying the Urban Institute's interactive Children of Immigrants Data Tool, describes the national and state characteristics of children of immigrants based on recent American Community Survey data. Since children of immigrants account for almost a quarter (24 percent) of children under age 5, their share in the school-age population will increase, with important implications for education policy. In addition, children of immigrants' poverty and low-income rates vary across states, highlighting the importance of state and local policies in promoting children's well-being.

During the 1990s, the federal government promised low-income families that work would pay. Parents moved into jobs in response to new welfare rules requiring work, tax credits and other work supports that boosted take-home pay. Unfortunately, the record shows that low-income families have not progressed much. Many don't bring home enough to cover the everyday costs of living. This paper synthesizes the current status of low-income families along with the findings from a set of essays that address key shortcomings in the safety net. The paper summarizes ideas for policies that would make work pay in today's economy.

The declining economy has meant intensified election-season interest in the issues that affect family budgets, like housing and health care. Child care costs also put substantial pressure on family resources, with very limited public programs to ease the way for low-income workers and their children. At the same time, many states are showing signs they may expand their early education offerings. [03:12]

Over the past year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has intensified immigration enforcement activities by conducting several large-scale worksite raids across the country. From an in-depth study of three communities—Greeley, CO, Grand Island, NE and New Bedford, MA—this report details the impact of these worksite raids on the well-being of children. The report provides detailed recommendations to a variety of stakeholders to help mitigate the harmful effects of worksite raids on children.

Ajay Chaudry, director of Urban Institute's Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population, is a front-line expert on social service delivery. He wrote Putting Children First: How Low-Wage Working Mothers Manage Child Care, a 2005 semi-finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award. As an author of "Framework for a New Safety Net for Low-Income Working Families," Chaudry set out goals for a new UI project that spotlights the context for working families' success or failure.

This paper for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation conceptualizes a framework for a new safety net for low-income working families that is rooted in their most essential needs. It is organized around five key goals:(1) enabling parents to meet their family’s needs while working in lower-wage jobs, (2) helping families weather gaps in parental employment, (3) supporting parents’ job advancement, (4) helping parents combine work and child-rearing, and (5) improving children’s well-being and development. The paper describes these families’ circumstances, discusses gaps in current safety-net programs, and explores possible alternative approaches to meeting families’ most pressing needs.

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