Claiming Unemployment Benefits While Receiving Social Security Administration Disability Payments

by , , and | Aug 7, 2020 | Brief

COVID-19 response legislation greatly strengthened and expanded the dollar amount, duration, and coverage of unemployment assistance. These changes have prompted questions about the implications for workers receiving disability benefits. This brief discusses the interaction between disability benefits and unemployment assistance and clarifies benefits that unemployed workers can receive through pandemic-related unemployment assistance. It is published jointly with Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, The Arc, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, The Century Foundation, and The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities. 

Types of Occupations in Subsidized Employment Programs

by , , , , , and | Dec 11, 2019 | Fact Sheet

Subsidized employment is a promising and proven strategy for creating more equitable and accessible pathways to stable employment for all—especially people facing serious barriers to employment. A review of 40 years of subsidized employment programs found that subsidized employment models can increase incomes and employment, reduce involvement with the criminal justice system, improve the psychological well-being of participants and their families, and reduce long-term poverty. This resource highlights the broad range of occupations that have been made available through subsidized employment programs.

A Tax Code for the Rest of Us: A Framework & Recommendations for Advancing Gender & Racial Equity Through Tax Credits

by , , , , and | Nov 15, 2019 | Fact Sheet, Report

This report, published jointly with the National Women’s Law Center, offers a new vision for a tax code that works for women, people of color, and low- and moderate-income families. Centuries of racist, sexist policy choices and discrimination have created significant barriers for women and people of color to build the kind of wealth our tax code now rewards. At the same time, insufficient tax revenues—exacerbated by tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations—constrain budgets for programs that help people afford their basic needs. The paper proposes a framework to help policymakers, advocates, and the public evaluate when and how refundable tax credits can advance equity, economic mobility, and opportunity for all.

The Paid Family & Medical Leave Opportunity: What Research Tells Us About Designing a Paid Leave Program that Works for All

by , , , and | Jul 24, 2019 | Report

At some point in our lives, nearly all of us will need to take time away from a job to address a loved one’s or our own serious illness, or to welcome a new child into our family. In this report, GCPI synthesizes research on paid leave and makes recommendations for designing a national paid leave policy that advances equity and accomplishes three interrelated goals:

Allows all workers to provide necessary care for themselves and their families;
Supports better health and child development outcomes for workers and their families; and
Ensures the financial stability of workers, their families, and their employers.

Reimagining Behavioral Health: A New Vision for Whole-Family, Whole-Community Behavioral Health

by , , , , and | Jul 21, 2019 | Brief, Report

In this joint report with Mental Health America, we present a new approach to mental health and substance use care and treatment in the United States. The report introduces a whole-family, whole-community behavioral health approach: a vision of a society that adequately supports mental health, physical health, and social and financial well-being. The report offers leaders in the health care, educational, criminal justice, child welfare and other systems a united policy agenda to ultimately improve health and economic opportunity.

Fighting Poverty with Jobs: Projecting the Impacts of a National Subsidized Employment Program

by , , , , , and | Jun 12, 2019 | Report

Jobs are at the heart of our nation’s debates around poverty and economic security. In this joint report from the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality and the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, we find that a comprehensive subsidized employment program would reach millions of U.S. workers left behind in today’s economy, reducing the poverty rate among participants by nearly half.

Structurally Unsound: The Impact of Using Block Grants to Fund Economic Security Programs

by , , , , , , and | Feb 28, 2019 | Brief, Report

This analysis finds that block grants (characterized by capped amounts of federal funding to states and other entities paired with expansive flexibility for how the funds are spent) are fundamentally ill-equipped to support basic living standards compared to other structures, especially those that meaningfully guarantee access to adequate benefits or services. Specifically, block grants struggle to respond to need, can be less accountable to program goals and to the people who participate in the program, and can exacerbate inequities–especially racial inequities.

Unworkable & Unwise: Conditioning Access to Programs that Ensure a Basic Foundation for Families on Work Requirements

by , , , , , , and | Jan 31, 2019 | Brief, Fact Sheet, Working Paper

This working paper outlines the ramifications of taking away Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and housing assistance from those who do not document meeting new work and community engagement requirements. The paper underscores how proposals that take away basic assistance from people who don’t meet work requirements are ill-informed, ineffective, inefficient, and inequitable, while alternative policies would produce far better outcomes.