Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Pending TANF Changes Could Send Georgia Budget Writers Scrambling August 21, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by Melissa Johnson Pending changes to a federal work-development and safety-net program that relies on state contributions could create a shortfall of tens of millions of dollars Georgia budget writers will need to fill somehow. Congress returns to Washington in a few weeks following its August recess and one of the laws on its to-do list is a […] Read more » Blog Melissa Johnson TANF
Blog Cash and Safety Net K-12 Education Melissa Johnson Worker Justice Educating Adults Critical to Georgia’s Success August 6, 2015 / March 12, 2021 by Melissa Johnson | 1 Comment on Educating Adults Critical to Georgia’s Success School is starting this week for many Georgia children but education ended much too soon for many of the state’s adults. Nearly 866,000 Georgians from 18 to 64 are without a high school diploma or GED. Georgia is home to the ninth highest share of adults in this age range in the country without a […] Read more » Economic Security Education Melissa Johnson Report Safety Net
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Rising Child Poverty Places More Demand on Summer Feeding Programs June 17, 2015 / January 16, 2020 by Melissa Johnson | 1 Comment on Rising Child Poverty Places More Demand on Summer Feeding Programs Georgia summer nutrition programs served about 18,000 more children in July 2014 than in July 2013. That’s the good news. The bad news is that these programs still served less than one in six needy children in 2014, according to a recent report by the Food Research and Action Center. Georgia’s summer nutrition programs still […] Read more » Economic Security Melissa Johnson Safety Net
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Summer Brings Child Hunger Challenges May 26, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by Melissa Johnson It’s that time of year again. The school year is ending and Georgia children are leaving classrooms for summer break. For more than 1 million Georgia children who qualify for free- or reduced-price lunches, summer break also brings anxiety. Fewer than one in seven Georgia children who rely on subsidized school lunches receive free summer […] Read more » Economic Security Melissa Johnson Safety Net
Wesley Tharpe Worker Justice Low Pay Holds Georgia Back April 29, 2015 / January 15, 2020 by Wesley Tharpe | 3 Comments on Low Pay Holds Georgia Back As published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution April 29, 2015 Kills jobs. Bad for business. Hurts the economy. Minimum wage detractors have pushed those arguments for decades and they’re common parlance among some legislators and lobbyists. But those claims are no truer than they were 50 years ago and ignore the economic potential higher wages could […] Read more » Atlanta Journal-Constitution Economic Security Op-Ed Safety Net Wesley Tharpe
Author Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Georgia’s 2016 Human Services Budget Reflects GBPI Influence April 21, 2015 / January 15, 2020 by Melissa Johnson Georgia lawmakers took steps in the just-ended legislative session to improve the lives of some of the state’s most vulnerable people. Lawmakers allotted $900,000 more in the 2016 state budget to help Georgians with disabilities prepare for jobs and added more than $25 million to better protect children. Also significant is something left undone. Lawmakers […] Read more » Economic Security Melissa Johnson Safety Net
Author Blog Budget and Taxes Wesley Tharpe Worker Justice State Transportation Repair Plan Veers Off Course March 24, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by Wesley Tharpe | 2 Comments on State Transportation Repair Plan Veers Off Course As published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on March 24, 2015 The bill lawmakers are pushing to answer Gov. Nathan Deal’s call for more money to fix Georgia’s roads and bridges made a sharp turn in the wrong direction last week. State senators put their stamp on a version their House colleagues passed by including a […] Read more » State Taxes Wesley Tharpe
Blog Cash and Safety Net Increasing Access to Child Care Helps Georgia’s Women, State Economy March 23, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by GBPI Admin Guest blogger Kelly Dolan is executive director of the Atlanta Women’s Foundation At the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, we know that advocacy is one of the most effective ways to combat the sort of interrelated root causes of social problems and systemic factors that are detailed in our Breaking the Cycle of Generational Poverty in Metro […] Read more » Economic Security Melissa Johnson Safety Net
Author Cash and Safety Net Featured Library Melissa Johnson Policy Areas Reports Child Care Assistance: Georgia’s Opportunity to Bolster Working Families, Economy March 23, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by Melissa Johnson Georgia is now turning away people who apply for child care financial assistance through a state program designed to help low-income families due to worries the program itself could run short of money. Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning said last Friday budget concerns are causing it to make the child care assistance unavailable […] Read more »
Blog Cash and Safety Net Melissa Johnson Threats to Child Care Affordability Undermine Georgia’s Workforce March 5, 2015 / January 17, 2020 by Melissa Johnson An income tax shift proposal released last week proposes to eliminate Georgia’s credit for child and dependent care, the state’s second largest income tax credit. Many low-income parents trying to raise young children in Georgia struggle to afford the high cost of quality child care even under today’s tax rules. A new Georgia Budget and Policy […] Read more » child care Economic Security Safety Net
