Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Georgia Shouldn’t Shift Aid to Families to Nonprofits April 18, 2013 / January 16, 2020 by Melissa Johnson | 2 Comments on Georgia Shouldn’t Shift Aid to Families to Nonprofits 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 data shows. To give low-income families […] Read more »
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson State Budget Leaves Needs of Many Unmet April 8, 2013 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson 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. It does not add child and […] Read more »
Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson GSU Study Conclusion is Flawed March 15, 2013 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson | 2 Comments on GSU Study Conclusion is Flawed 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 supports discourage work, marriage and other […] Read more »
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Georgia’s Reaction to Reports of Welfare Waste Poses Administrative Nightmare February 27, 2013 / January 16, 2020 by Melissa Johnson 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 a problem that may not be […] Read more » Melissa Johnson TANF
Budget and Taxes Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Reports Overview: Georgia’s 2014 Fiscal Year Human Services February 8, 2013 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson State Spending Cuts Borne Most Heavily by Most Vulnerable The governor’s budget proposals for the next 17 months do not meet the growing needs of Georgia’s most vulnerable children and adults. In some cases they place them even more at risk. The state’s spending plans will make it more difficult for the Department of Human […] Read more » Department of Human Services Economic Security Melissa Johnson Safety Net State Budget
Cash and Safety Net State of Working Georgia 2012 November 19, 2012 / March 5, 2021 by GBPI Admin | 5 Comments on State of Working Georgia 2012 The State of Working Georgia brings together a wide range of data on jobs, incomes, poverty, health insurance, and other economic conditions to explore the most important question facing Georgia’s leaders: how are ordinary working Georgians, the engine behind the state’s economy, faring? The report is produced annually and is part of the State of […] Read more » Economic Security employment Safety Net State of Working Georgia
Cash and Safety Net Clare S. Richie The 5th poorest state needs to step up November 15, 2012 / January 17, 2020 by Clare Richie | 2 Comments on The 5th poorest state needs to step up Posted by Clare S. Richie 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 » Economic Security poverty Safety Net
Blog Cash and Safety Net Clare S. Richie Georgia’s Abuse of TANF Provision Gets Congressional Attention November 8, 2012 / January 17, 2020 by Clare Richie | 1 Comment on Georgia’s Abuse of TANF Provision Gets Congressional Attention Posted by Clare S. Richie 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 » TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Blog Cash and Safety Net Clare S. Richie Georgians Pick up the Tab for Corporate Tax Breaks – Again! September 28, 2012 / January 17, 2020 by Clare Richie | 1 Comment on Georgians Pick up the Tab for Corporate Tax Breaks – Again! Posted by Clare S. Richie 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 »
Cash and Safety Net Clare S. Richie Reports Georgia TANF Funds Sink to New Low September 20, 2012 / January 16, 2020 by GBPI Admin | 1 Comment on Georgia TANF Funds Sink to New Low Despite the drop in federal TANF funds, Georgia policymakers continue to use federal TANF funds to replace state funds without regard to prioritizing state programs that directly promote family self-sufficiency. For FY 2013, lawmakers allocated 43 percent of the federal TANF to satisfy TANF’s direct purposes, while 57 percent of the funds were used to […] Read more »
