The World Food Prize Foundation will host a webinar this week to discuss the effects of the expanded child tax credit as part of its Iowa Hunger Summit initiative. The webinar, titled “What we know about the child tax credit and food hardship,” will feature Sophie Collier, research director, and Megan Curran, policy director at the Center on Policy and Social Prosperity at Columbia University; and Kyle Poorman, director of the Iowa Hunger Summit. The event is free to attend and will be held Thursday at 1 p.m. The child tax credit was expanded by the Biden administration in July 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan as an attempt to reduce child poverty. Funding for the program ended in December 2021. The credit is estimated to have reached 61 million children in 36 million households nationwide, including 661,000 children in 371,000 households in Iowa. According to the Center on Policy and Social Prosperity, the tax credit reduced the monthly child poverty rate by 26% and kept 3 million children from poverty. “The research from our partners at CPSP shows that monthly child tax credits have played a significant role in addressing food hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Poorman said. “This webinar is an opportunity to learn more about the benefits for families and the opportunities to build on those successes.” More information and registration is available on the Iowa Hunger Summit’s website.