To expand Georgia’s economy, the state should reassess the way it allocates resources. For the last few years, Georgia cut state spending on supports for low-income families and increasingly relied on other sources to provide services – which potentially reduced the total services available to these families, as new… [Read more]

Categories: Author, Blog, Economic Security, Melissa Johnson | Comments (1)

The Georgia Legislature approved a 2014 budget March 28 for the Department of Human Services that is an improvement over the governor’s 2014 budget proposal, but still leaves the needs of large numbers of Georgians unmet. The budget sustains the 20 percent cut to the department’s resources since 2009.… [Read more]

A new study that casts vital family supports in a bad light relies on far-fetched assumptions about the way people behave in real life and ignores the proven benefits of services for children and parents.
In fact, the study’s breezy conclusion that food stamps, subsidized child care and other… [Read more]

This week a federal appeals court upheld a temporary ban on Florida’s suspicionless drug testing of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) applicants. The court decision could effectively halt Georgia’s plans to drug test all TANF applicants.
Georgia passed House Bill 861(HB 861) last year to require parents who… [Read more]

This week the General Assembly began considering House Bill 138 (HB 138), legislation designed to discourage the misuse of cash benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Though seemingly well-intentioned, the bill could present a huge logistical challenge for retailers, all in an attempt to remedy… [Read more]

Nearly one in five Georgians — and one out of four children — lives in poverty. That’s a lot: in only four other states is the poverty rate higher.
We’re talking about an income of $22,350 for a family of four. That’s less than half of what it takes for… [Read more]

Categories: Clare S. Richie, Economic Security | Comments (1)

Georgia recently attracted the attention of Congress because of its abuse of a tactic that has eroded services for Georgians struggling to get out of poverty.  Nearly half of Georgia’s required contribution to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,  which is supposed to match federal funding, now comes from private third-party… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, Clare S. Richie, Economic Security | Comments (1)

For the second year in a row, Georgia will waste more than $20 million of taxpayer money cleaning up a mess created by more than a decade of irresponsible corporate tax breaks.
Corporate tax breaks and unprecedented tax holidays in the years leading up to the recession have drained more… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, Clare S. Richie, Economic Security | Comments (1)

A perfect storm has hit Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in Georgia, and the results could be devastating. Reduced by nearly $125 million, TANF in Georgia is at a new low, surpluses from previous years are gone, and the state is relying heavily on private funds that may ultimately… [Read more]

The year was 1992. An exciting Braves squad was playing toward its second World Series; a young governor from Arkansas was campaigning for president; “Seinfeld” was becoming a Thursday night mainstay; and Boyz II Men was the #1 pop artist in the country. On the economic front, the nation was… [Read more]

Categories: Blog, Economic Security, Wesley Tharpe | Comments (1)