Blog Cash and Safety Net Health Justice Melissa Johnson Worker Justice Federal Food Assistance Works for Georgia Children October 12, 2016 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson We encourage children to dream big every day. We tell them they can be doctors, astronauts or anything else they want to be as long as they work hard. However, some children are born into families that need help putting food on the table before their children can dream about anything more than the next […] Read more » SNAP
Budget Primer Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Reports Georgia Human Services Budget Primer for State Fiscal Year 2017 July 20, 2016 / April 14, 2020 by Melissa Johnson Human Services Budget Overview Georgia’s Department of Human Services oversees state spending to protect children and the elderly and provide non-medical assistance to people with low incomes. State funding for the agency is $642 million in 2017, less than 3 percent of state spending. Child welfare-related services represent the largest share of the department’s responsibilities, […] Read more » Budget Primer Budget Primer FY2017 child care Safety Net
Budget and Taxes Budget Primer Cash and Safety Net Health Justice K-12 Education Reports Georgia Budget Primer 2017 July 19, 2016 / March 23, 2021 by GBPI Admin Where does the money for Georgia’s $23.7 billion budget come from this year? How has the new transportation funding package affected state revenue? Is Georgia finally funding K-12 education at the level called for in its own formula? GBPI’s “Georgia Budget Primer 2017” answers these questions and many more in 44 pages designed to provide a clear […] Read more » Budget Primer
Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Georgia Families Need State to Support New Child Care Plan July 14, 2016 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson | 1 Comment on Georgia Families Need State to Support New Child Care Plan Georgia’s new and improved plan to expand access to quality child care for families earning low incomes took effect in June. The state’s 2017 budget for the fiscal year that starts this month, however, is $103 million short of what’s needed to implement the plan according to a new GBPI analysis. If this wide funding […] Read more » child care
Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Reports Help Needed to Meet Georgia’s Laudable Child Care Goals July 14, 2016 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson Georgia’s plan to expand access to quality child care for families earning low incomes became effective this June, but the state budget that takes effect this month is $103 million short of what’s needed to implement the plan. A proposal approved by federal regulators includes increased income eligibility limits, lowered family co-payments and higher payments […] Read more » child care
Blog Cash and Safety Net Jennifer Owens K-12 Education Better Investments Needed to Close Georgia’s Child Hunger Gap June 24, 2016 / January 16, 2020 by Jennifer Owens | 1 Comment on Better Investments Needed to Close Georgia’s Child Hunger Gap When the final bells ring and students pour out of schools for the summer, some set their sights on beach trips, lazy days playing in backyard sprinklers and summer camps with friends. But for hundreds of thousands of Georgia schoolchildren, figuring out where their next meal will come from is top of mind. Nearly 879,000 […] Read more » Nutrition School Lunch
Blog Cash and Safety Net Health Justice Taifa Smith Butler Lawmakers Made Small Progress, Avoided Big Budget Mistakes April 11, 2016 / January 17, 2020 by Taifa Smith Butler As Published in the AJC Former drug offenders and their families who struggle financially could get better access to nutrition assistance to help them on a path to a lawful, productive life. Some financially struggling rural hospitals stand to get a cash infusion, although the remedy that emerged from the 2016 General Assembly amounts to […] Read more » Atlanta Journal-Constitution Budget & Taxes Income Tax Legislature Medicaid Expansion Rural hospitals
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Policy Areas TANF Time Limits Undercut Workforce Development March 17, 2016 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson This week Georgia legislators in the House Health and Human Services Committee moved to rend the state’s frayed safety net, narrowly approving a measure to cut lifetime eligibility for cash assistance 25 percent. If Senate Bill 389 passes, Georgia parents could only receive cash aid from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program for […] Read more » TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Workforce Development
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Inclusive Economy for Immigrants Melissa Johnson Policy Areas Drivers’ ID Bill Would Squander Big Bucks to Target Immigrants February 26, 2016 / April 2, 2020 by Melissa Johnson A Senate bill threatens to spend hundreds of thousands of Georgia taxpayer dollars to compel work-eligible immigrants to carry both a drivers’ privilege card and a special identification card. If this bill passes, Georgia is obligated to waste effort and expense to address unproven problems while it further stigmatizes immigrants. Senate Bill 6, up for […] Read more »
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Policy Areas Bill Aims at Nonexistent Problem to Target Georgia’s Poor February 19, 2016 / January 17, 2020 by Melissa Johnson Georgia House Bill 1006 proposes to rip another hole in the state’s frayed safety net, cutting lifetime eligibility for cash assistance for the poorest of Georgia’s poor by 75 percent. Lawmakers assigned the bill to the House Health and Human Services Committee this week. At stake: Georgia parents could only receive cash aid from the […] Read more » Melissa Johnson TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
