As published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on April 18, 2014. The state’s chronic underfunding of its human service agency is provoking the threat of a federal crackdown, as its food stamp program isn’t keeping up with the increase in
Almost 2 million low-income Georgians will find it harder to get ahead in the future, thanks to counterproductive policies adopted by state lawmakers in the just-concluded legislative session. Lawmakers took potshots at the poor from a variety of directions, ranging
Georgia lawmakers are in an unnecessary rush to reform the state’s child welfare system to meet a deadline that is likely to be extended. The push to adopt SB 350, a bill that would privatize all child welfare services except
Representatives in the Georgia House are considering a proposal to start “suspicion-based” drug testing for people who receive public assistance. If House Bill 772 becomes law, applicants for benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food
Forty-one percent of Georgia’s low-income working families are headed by women and 46 percent of these mothers have no college education according to a new report by the Working Poor Families Project. Georgia was home to 402,000 low-income working families
Strategic Additions Made to DHS Budget; Service Cuts Since Recession Retained The governor’s $516.1 million budget proposal for the 2015 fiscal year makes strategic additions to help protect Georgia’s children and adults, but falls far short of restoring funds to
About one in five Georgians lives in poverty, making Georgia the sixth poorest state in the nation. More than one in four Georgia children doesn’t get enough food to eat. Our state’s economy and our ability to compete globally could
More Georgians are living on the desperate side of the federal poverty line than at any time in the state’s recent history. At the same time, pathways to exit poverty are increasingly blocked as the state failed to make strategic
Georgia’s economy has slowly inched toward recovery since the state’s unemployment rate peaked in February 2010. More than three years since the official end of the economic crisis, Georgia has recovered just two-thirds of the jobs lost during the downturn.
As you gather with friends and family for Thanksgiving dinner this week, be aware that one in five of your fellow Georgians will probably sit down to a very modest spread. That is because these Georgians depend on the Supplemental
The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute works to advance lasting solutions that expand economic opportunity and well-being for all Georgians.
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute
GBPI is committed to tracking how the state of Georgia raises and spends fiscal resources. As the federal government has promised and provided some of these, cuts to programs and funding on the federal level could have deep and lasting impacts on Georgians and on the state’s ability to meet the needs of all its residents.
Submit public comment on Georgia’s Pathways to Coverage program extension by February 20th – just complete this easily fillable form:
