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Blog

ARPA 101: How the American Rescue Plan Act can build a more equitable Alabama

The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched families, hospitals, schools, businesses and food banks across Alabama to their limits. Like tens of millions of other Americans, local and state officials have had to adapt to new challenges and respond to existing health and economic challenges exacerbated by the pandemic over the last two years. Congress reacted to [...]
Issues
Health, Housing, Public Transportation, Safety Net
Date
June 28, 2022
Author
Blog

Arise legislative recap: Jan. 25, 2022

The Alabama Legislature has stepped away briefly from its regular session for a special session on federal COVID-19 relief funds. Arise executive director Robyn Hyden provides an overview of how lawmakers plan to allocate the next portion of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money this week. And she explains why affordable housing and public transportation [...]
Issues
Housing, Public Transportation, Budgets
Date
January 25, 2022
Author
News Releases

New poll: Alabamians strongly support use of ARPA funds to protect rural hospitals, increase mental health services

Alabama’s likely voters overwhelmingly support using federal COVID-19 relief funds to increase funding for mental health and rural hospitals, according to a new Alabama Arise poll released Monday. More than four in five respondents (81.1%) supported using a portion of Alabama’s funding under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to invest in rural hospitals and [...]
Issues
Budgets, Health, Housing, Public Transportation, Tax Reform, Coronavirus
Date
January 24, 2022
Author
Chris Sanders
Blog

Six ways Alabama should use ARPA funds to build a better, more inclusive future

The Alabama Legislature’s 2022 regular session, which began Tuesday, will be unusual in one important way. For the first time in many years, Alabama has more than enough revenue to maintain its bare-bones public services. That means instead of scrambling to avoid cuts, the legislative focus can be on strengthening investments in our state’s future. [...]
Issues
Economic Opportunity, Coronavirus, Medicaid Expansion, Budgets, Health, Housing, Public Transportation, Safety Net
Date
January 14, 2022
Author
Carol Gundlach
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. [...]
Issue
Housing
Date
December 21, 2021
Author
Carol Gundlach
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 [...]
Issue
Housing
Date
December 10, 2021
Author
Dev Wakeley
Blog

Recovering from Alabama’s costly mistake on COVID-19 recovery funds

This post originally appeared on the Economic Policy Institute's blog. When the Alabama Legislature gathered for a special session in September, it made a shortsighted and costly mistake. Lawmakers chose to allocate $400 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money ‒ about 20% of Alabama’s federal COVID-19 relief funds ‒ to help finance a [...]
Issues
Budgets, Criminal Justice, Health, Housing, Public Transportation, Coronavirus, Medicaid Expansion
Date
November 8, 2021
Author
Dev Wakeley
Letters & Testimony

Alabama Arise testimony on distribution of federal rental assistance funds

Arise’s Dev Wakeley testified Wednesday before the Legislative Oversight Committee of the Alabama Housing Finance Authority (AHFA). He discussed Arise’s concerns about the slow distribution of federal rental assistance authorized under the American Rescue Plan Act. He also shared recommendations to speed up disbursement and increase participation. Here’s the full text of Wakeley’s prepared remarks:

Issue
Housing
Date
September 29, 2021
Author
Blog

Alabama Arise keeps listening. Here’s what we heard in 2021!

Listening is a core value of Alabama Arise. We deeply value the input we get from our members, our allies and most importantly, those directly affected by the work we do together. We depend on what we hear to help guide our issue work and our strategies. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continued to challenge us [...]
Issues
Criminal Justice, Health, Housing, Public Transportation, Economic Opportunity, Voting Rights, Coronavirus
Date
September 22, 2021
Author
Presdelane Harris
Blog

Thousands in Alabama at risk of homelessness after Supreme Court overturns eviction moratorium

Tens of thousands of Alabamians are at risk of losing their homes after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium on Aug. 27. This moratorium — the latest in a series at the state and federal level — would have allowed renters harmed by the COVID-19 recession more time to apply for and receive federal rental assistance funds through local agencies.

Issues
Coronavirus, Budgets, Housing
Date
September 7, 2021
Author
Dev Wakeley