All Resources
Personal Stories
‘Resilient communities begin with healthy people, period’
Warren Alan Tidwell has spent years doing work that depends on trust. He does the slow, often unseen work of bringing people together across differences after an emergency.
Blog
Alabama should expand healthy food access. SB 57 isn’t the answer.
Alabama should not be in the business of telling people what to eat simply because they have low incomes. But SB 57 proposes to do just that. The bill would limit food choice for participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, by forbidding the use of SNAP benefits to [...]
Letters & Testimony
Alabama Arise testimony in opposition to SNAP food choice limits
Alabama Arise hunger policy advocate LaTrell Clifford Wood testified Wednesday before the House Ways and Means General Fund Committee in opposition to SB 57 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. SB 57 would restrict which foods can be bought in Alabama with food assistance benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Here is the full [...]
Fact Sheet
2026 Legislative Day – Close the health coverage gap: Enact policies to save lives in Alabama
No one should have to choose between going to the doctor and putting food on the table. But for more than a decade, Alabama lawmakers have turned down the opportunity to expand Medicaid to cover adults with low incomes. This choice has cost lives, weakened our health care system and left billions of federal dollars [...]
Fact Sheet
How the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act worsens health and hunger in Alabama communities
HR 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was signed into law on July 4, 2025. This federal law will have far-reaching consequences on many issues affecting people in our communities. Following are a few talking points focused on how HR 1 will impact health and hunger for people in Alabama. Health Did not [...]
Blog
Arise legislative update: Week of Jan. 19, 2026
Arise's LaTrell Clifford Wood focuses this week on one of our key hunger relief priorities: no-cost school meals. After the Legislature increased state funding for school meals last year, Alabama public schools served 2.8 million more breakfasts to our Alabama students in fall 2025. Greater access to school meals improves learning outcomes, and Arise is [...]
Blog
Arise 2026: How we’re working to build a better Alabama
Alabama Arise believes in dignity, equity and justice for all. We believe in an Alabama where everyone's voice is heard and everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. And we believe better public policies are the key to building a brighter future for our state. Below, we'll share some details of that vision [...]
Fact Sheet
Closing the health coverage gap: Alabama must enact policies to save lives
Haga clic aquí para leer esto en español. By Jennifer Harris, senior health policy advocate, and Debbie Smith, Cover Alabama campaign director As Alabama enters the 2026 legislative session, Medicaid expansion and maternal health will be central to the state’s health equity conversations. Recent federal policy changes have made these conversations more urgent and more [...]
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 [...]
Blog
Long federal road ahead for SNAP, health care
By Carol Gundlach, senior policy analyst, and Debbie Smith, Cover Alabama campaign director Alabama Arise believes that society should care for the most vulnerable in our nation—children, the elderly, those who are disabled and those who have fallen on temporary hard times. Since the Great Depression, Americans have been assured that, no matter how hard [...]