Alabama Political Reporter: Alabama Arise unveils strategies to tackle workforce participation crisis in Alabama

"As Alabama heads into the 2024 legislative session, the insights and strategies proposed by Alabama Arise present a potential pathway to addressing the workforce challenges. By focusing on enhancing public transportation, ensuring transparency and accountability in economic incentives, and expanding health care access, Alabama can take significant steps toward fostering a more robust and thriving workforce, ultimately benefiting the state’s economy and its citizens, according to Alabama Arise’s report," editor Bill Britt writes of Arise's proposals to address Alabama's workforce struggles.

Further reading:

Alabama Daily News

Anniston Star

Decatur Daily

Florence TimesDaily

Gadsden Reporter Monthly

WHNT 19, Huntsville: Alabama employers are getting creative with employee recruitment

“The recipe for bringing people in and having them retained is paying them enough to live on and thrive on,” Arise's Dev Wakeley told WHNT 19 in Huntsville.

Alabama Daily News: Grocery tax cut could be less costly to state than first thought, new data suggests

"The grocery tax has been a tax on survival," Arise's Akiesha Anderson told Alabama Daily News. "It is what we refer to as a regressive tax, meaning that it impacts lower-income Alabamians more harshly than it impacts higher-income Alabamians." Akiesha serves on a state commission exploring ways to repeal the state grocery tax sustainably and responsibly.

Further reading:

Alabama Reflector

Anniston Star 

Florence TimesDaily

Alabama Reflector: Alabama Medicaid unwinding: Children big part of losses, but may have gotten coverage elsewhere

The Alabama Reflector talked to Arise's Jennifer Harris about Alabama's Medicaid unwinding process. "[She] said that the main question is whether those children who are no longer eligible for Medicaid are now eligible for ALL Kids," reporter Alander Rocha wrote. Arise is working to ensure Alabama families do not lose Medicaid coverage due to paperwork errors or for procedural reasons. 

Further reading:

Alabama Reflector

WBRC Fox 6, Birmingham

Alabama Reflector: Biography of a district: Alabama 2nd district residents lack health care access

“This is a Black Belt district. We know the histories of the Black Belt are that it’s been intentionally disinvested in for centuries really, in terms of the well-being of the people,” Arise's Dev Wakeley told the Alabama Reflector.

ABC 33/40, Birmingham: Man sentenced to death in connection to murder of Moody police officer despite non-unanimous jury

"As of May, there were more than 30 people that were on death row in Alabama because a judge overruled a jury's life sentence, according to Alabama Arise, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing public policies to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty. A bill was introduced in the Alabama House of Representatives earlier this year that would have changed that," ABC 33/40 reported.

Further reading:

WBRC Fox 6, Birmingham 

WKRG 5, Mobile

WSFA 12, Montgomery

WTVY 4, Dothan

Public News Service: Alabama Arise unveils 2024 policy priorities to aid marginalized communities

"Some people feel a sense of powerlessness, a feeling that our political systems are not set up to listen to us or respond to our needs, the needs of everyday folks," Arise's Robyn Hyden said. "We really work hard to refute that by showing that regular everyday citizens do have power in raising their voices together."

Birmingham Business Journal: Payday lenders maintain strong presence in Alabama

“As a state, economically, socially, morally, in every sense that you can imagine, I think we can do better when we help take care of people instead of taking advantage of them," Arise's Mike Nicholson told the Birmingham Business Journal.

Alabama Daily News: Alabama home sales fall as national rate hits 13-year low

Alabama Daily News spoke to Arise's Dev Wakeley about ways to make housing more affordable in our state. "One proposed solution to expanding housing availability in Alabama would be to fund the state’s Housing Trust Fund, a trust fund created in 2012 that was designed to support construction, renovation and maintenance of affordable housing," Alabama Daily News reported.

Further reading:

Florence TimesDaily