Anti-Poverty Leaders to Biden: Child Allowance Cash Payments Will Not Give Low-Income Americans True Opportunity | DAILY SIGNAL

by Corey Burres | Aug 12, 2021

Anti-Poverty Leaders to Biden: Child Allowance Cash Payments Will Not Give Low-Income Americans True Opportunity | DAILY SIGNAL

Policymakers who are concerned about low-income Americans should reject the Biden administration’s plan to make new unconditional cash payments permanent in the form of a child allowance. Policymakers should not support this ill-advised attempt to expand safety-net benefits without making them conditioned on work or preparation for work.

All congressional leaders should know: this policy could set back the progress this country has made against child poverty and leave low-income Americans behind…

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Letter: Reimagine how children stay connected to school | THE ROANOKE TIMES

by Corey Burres | Jul 19, 2021

Letter: Reimagine how children stay connected to school | THE ROANOKE TIMES

The June 8 Roanoke School Board meeting addressed student learning loss and post-pandemic reorganization.

As a Hollins University student and member of the Roanoke community, I care about access to education.

In my research, I found a study from the Georgia Center for Opportunity, illuminating that while white students have fallen one to three months behind, students of color nationwide have fallen at least three to five months behind in their education during the pandemic.

These results are almost identical to the learning gaps that result from student suspension and barriers to accessing academic support services, including the disproportionate impact on students and families of color…

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Inflation is running wild — poor and low-income Americans will be hurt the most | QUAD CITY TIMES

by Corey Burres | Jul 16, 2021

Inflation is running wild — poor and low-income Americans will be hurt the most | QUAD CITY TIMES

How can we help working families the most? Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a popular solution, but it’s a short-sighted one given the reality that inflation — the silent assassin of Americans’ livelihoods, particularly for the poor — is now running the hottest it has in decades.

The Consumer Price Index has increased 5.4% since last year, as announced on July 13 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The monthly rate was 0.6% in May but 0.9% in June. If this rate persists, our nation will experience double-digit inflation. A 0.9% monthly rate translates to an 11.4% annual rate, a level not seen since the 1970s….

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Gov’t. check can’t beat work’s dignity | AJC

by Corey Burres | Jul 9, 2021

Gov’t. check can’t beat work’s dignity | AJC

The latest unemployment statistics are in and show trends continuing with millions of jobs across the nation going unfilled as unacceptably high numbers of Americans draw on generous unemployment benefits. On June 23, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported its unrevised May 2021 figures, showing a drop in the unemployment rate for Georgia from 4.3% in April to 4.1% in May.

The good news is that our state has fared much better than many others in the COVID-19 pandemic recovery. States with more draconian restrictions — such as California — have had a much slower economic recovery.

Georgia’s rate is 16th-lowest in the country, beating out 34 other states. And the U.S. as a whole has a 5.9% unemployment rate, significantly higher than Georgia’s...

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Biden’s ‘Illusions Of Economic Magic’ Fail The Forgotten American | DAILY CALLER

by Corey Burres | May 27, 2021

Biden’s ‘Illusions Of Economic Magic’ Fail The Forgotten American | DAILY CALLER

In a very different time — yet in similar economic straits — then-presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of the “forgotten man,” the American left behind by seismic trends and sweeping changes beyond his control.

“These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units of economic power,” FDR told Americans on April 7, 1932 in a radio address. He went on to call for policies “that build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.”…

A team of economists at the Georgia Center for Opportunity have for the first time published a study that demonstrates how people receiving government assistance from multiple programs —such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, free school lunches and Medicaid — face a difficult benefits cliff if they were to find work. The study calculates “benefit cliffs” for families in 888 counties across eight states. For example, a working single mom with two children in Memphis, Tennessee, would astoundingly lose more than $8,000 in combined earnings and benefits if her pay were bumped up less than $2 to a $15 hourly wage.

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Joining Forces to Get Our Neighbors Employment Ready | SAPORTA REPORT

by Corey Burres | May 18, 2021

Joining Forces to Get Our Neighbors Employment Ready | SAPORTA REPORT

In tandem with finding stable employment, many caregivers and heads of household are dealing with trauma and other socioemotional challenges. That is where Families First comes in. We have developed a screening tool to assess resiliency, a person’s ability to get back out there and their readiness to face life’s challenges. For some it is an immediate transition to work; however, for others there may be a need for coaching, mentoring or behavioral health services from Families First, Georgia Center for Opportunity, Impact46, Crisis to Career or other participating organizations to be successful in a new job…

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