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Poverty in Alabama has many structural causes and symptoms. Arise has worked hard for decades to identify these challenges and propose policy solutions to them. We believe strongly that better public policy is the key to reducing and eliminating poverty, and that belief fuels our research on a whole range of issues facing our state.
Featured Resources
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise testimony in opposition to ending Public Service Commission elections
Alabama Arise’s Robyn Hyden testified Tuesday before the House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee in opposition to HB 392 by Rep. Chip Brown, R-Hollinger’s Island, which would change the Public Service Commission from an elected board to an appointed one. Here is the full text of Hyden’s prepared remarks: Good morning. I am Robyn Hyden, [...]
Fact Sheet
Empower workers to build an economy that works for all Alabamians
By Dev Wakeley, worker policy advocate (dev@alarise.org), and Adam Keller, Worker Power Campaign director (adam@alarise.org) Alabama has a history of anti-worker policies that prioritize the interests of wealthy corporations over those of working people. This top-down structure has led to our state falling behind in measurable standards of well-being. Alabamians have shorter lifespans, worse health [...]
Resources
Building on our momentum for the new year
As we close out 2025, Arise members and member organizations can reflect on a very successful year. Reducing the state sales tax on groceries from 3% to 2% and guaranteeing more students in public schools get a free breakfast with a $7.3 million budget appropriation were two of the biggest highlights worth celebrating. Improvements were [...]
Resources
Las prioridades legislativas de Alabama Arise para 2026
Más de 150 grupos miembros de Alabama Arise y más de 1,500 miembros individuales eligen todos los años nuestras prioridades legislativas. Este proceso garantiza que los habitantes de Alabama más afectados por la pobreza participen de las decisiones. A continuación se enumeran las prioridades que nuestros miembros eligieron para 2025. Para obtener una versión de este [...]
Member Resources
Alabama Arise 2026 legislative priorities
More than 150 Alabama Arise member groups and nearly 2,000 individual members choose our legislative priorities each year. This process ensures that Alabamians most impacted by poverty have a seat at the table. Below are the priorities that our members selected for 2026. For a PDF version of this document, click here or click the [...]
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise, 42 partner groups ask lawmakers to stand strong against TVA privatization
Proposals to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have surfaced repeatedly in recent years. Alabama Arise joined 42 partner groups in a letter urging Alabama’s congressional delegation and state elected officials to speak out in opposition to efforts to privatize TVA and to keep energy reliable, affordable and accountable to Alabamians. The full text of [...]
Fact Sheet
Paid parental leave improves life for Alabama workers
Overview We all benefit when new parents are able to dedicate more time to bonding with their children. Paid parental leave is a crucial policy to promote stronger families, and it also helps more people remain in the workforce and continue to contribute to our economy. Alabama lawmakers should embrace the opportunity to ensure paid [...]
Fact Sheet
Remove tax incentives for companies that break child labor laws in Alabama
Overview Companies that accept public money through economic development incentives should be held accountable when breaking laws that protect workers. But because Alabama’s historical development model caters to big companies at the expense of workers, consequences for bad actors are too light. The state’s development philosophy is heavy on tax breaks and light on accountability [...]
Fact Sheet
School breakfast for all: What Alabama can do to help feed all of our kids
By Carol Gundlach, senior policy analyst, and LaTrell Clifford Wood, hunger policy advocate | January 2025 Overview Alabama can and should do more to equip our children and our schools for success. One big step would be to provide school breakfast for all our children. And our lawmakers can make major progress toward that goal [...]
Resources
VIDEO: The path forward in Arise’s work to untax groceries
On Labor Day weekend in 2023, Alabama’s state grocery tax reduction finally became a reality. The 1-cent decline in the sales tax on food brought welcome news to Alabamians who are struggling to make ends meet. And it marked a milestone in Alabama Arise’s work to build a more just and equitable tax system for [...]
