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Fact Sheet
It’s time to expand Medicaid and close Alabama’s health coverage gap
For years, Gov. Kay Ivey and legislators have said cost is the barrier to covering Alabamians with low incomes through Medicaid. Thanks to federal COVID-19 relief funding with incentives for Medicaid expansion, any concerns about that barrier are gone. Now more than ever before, we have the opportunity to ensure no Alabamian has to choose [...]
Fact Sheet
Alabama Housing Trust Fund can help thousands find a place to call home
Alabama lacks more than 73,000 homes for households with incomes below the federal poverty line ($26,500 for a family of four). That means many seniors, students, veterans and people with low or fixed incomes in Alabama can’t afford a safe place to call home. And the pandemic only made the housing crisis worse. Between Sept. [...]
Fact Sheet
Funding surge is a path for Alabama to untax groceries, expand Medicaid
Alabama’s broken tax system usually starves our state of money to fund education, public health and other basic responsibilities adequately. But 2022 may be different. Record tax revenues and a surge of federal recovery dollars could allow lawmakers to address longstanding state needs and inequities – if they have the political courage: Tax revenues for [...]
Blog
Special sessions set stage for fast-paced 2022 regular session
The Alabama Legislature’s two special sessions this fall brought mixed results on Alabama Arise issue priorities. Lawmakers improved the state’s post-incarceration reentry policies in the first special session in September. And in the second session, which ended in November, they allocated $80 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for costs related to [...]
Blog
Funding boosts bring opportunity to invest in Alabama’s future
Alabama’s broken tax system usually starves our state of money to fund basic responsibilities adequately. But 2022 may be different. Record tax revenues and a surge of federal recovery dollars could allow lawmakers to address longstanding state needs and inequities – if they have the political courage. State revenues that pay for our schools, including [...]
Blog
Arise keeps up advocacy to prevent evictions
Emergency rental assistance programs are falling short in Alabama even as tens of thousands of renters remain at risk of eviction. The Alabama Housing Finance Authority (AHFA) has received more than 70,000 applications for federal rental assistance. But fewer than 4,000 households had been helped as of Oct. 31. The AHFA has distributed only about [...]
Blog
Join Alabama Arise today!
This year, Alabama Arise deepened our commitment to ensuring we center those most impacted by poverty as we forge a new path toward a more equitable Alabama. This means we must be intentional about expanding the demographics of our membership base to be more reflective of the populations we serve. On Giving Tuesday (Nov. 30), [...]
Blog
A year to strengthen our communities
We can’t even begin to summarize all the momentous federal policy advances realized in 2021 in one newsletter. This year brought passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the infrastructure package. It brought expansion of the Child Tax Credit. And we hope it will bring the forthcoming passage of the Build Back Better [...]
Newsletter
December 2021 newsletter
Special sessions set stage for fast-paced 2022 regular session By Dev Wakeley, policy analyst The Alabama Legislature’s two special sessions this fall brought mixed results on Alabama Arise issue priorities. Lawmakers improved the state’s post-incarceration reentry policies in the first special session in September. And in the second session, which ended in November, they allocated [...]
Resources
Alabama Arise toolkit on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is an unprecedented opportunity for local and state lawmakers in Alabama to invest equitably in an economic recovery that serves Alabamians of all backgrounds. ARPA provides $130 billion in federal funding directly to local governments. This level of aid will help communities across the country shape their recovery from [...]