Topic: Safety Net

Oklahoma must take action to help workers who will be hurt by the pandemic

There are actions the state can take to soften the negative economic effects of the pandemic in Oklahoma. And they must start with expanding access to unemployment insurance. [More...]

Medicaid expansion: An opportunity to improve financial health

With 14 percent of residents uninsured, a significant portion of Oklahomans are at risk of incurring financially devastating medical debt. An important yet often overlooked outcome of Medicaid expansion is the positive impact it has on the financial well-being of beneficiaries. [More...]

Smart policy decisions could improve economic well-being for all Oklahomans

This year’s Prosperity Now Scorecard reminds us that Oklahoma faces significant challenges. But the good news is that the state has the opportunity to reverse course and set Oklahoma on a path to a more prosperous and sustainable future. [More...]

Oklahoma college students are hungry, and there’s more we can do to help

About a third of university students and nearly two out of three community college students nationwide are food insecure, meaning they are uncertain where their next meal will come from. [More...]

The Administration’s new immigration rules are already hurting families – and it’s going to get worse

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule that will make it harder for low-income immigrants to legally come to the United States, and more difficult to stay here once they’ve come. [More...]

How we measure poverty matters — and a proposed change would make it worse

Last year, 621,076 Oklahomans were living in poverty according to official estimates - that's 15.8 percent, or one out of every six, of us. The Trump Administration has recently proposed a plan to adjust the way we measure poverty, but these changes would not make the measure more accurate. [More...]

Bill Watch: Opportunities to make Oklahomans better off economically this session

This session, the Legislature will have several opportunities to improve the lives of hard-working Oklahomans and their families. Legislators have filed bills to create second chances for the justice-involved, make sure workers have paid time off to care for their own health and the health of their loved ones, and restore the full value of the Earned Income Tax Credit. All of these would be great steps toward creating an Oklahoma that appropriately values and fairly rewards the labor of its citizens. [More...]

No family should be punished for accepting help when they need it

UPDATE (8/12/19): This week the Trump Administration is expected to submit a final rule on public charge that is set to take effect in 60 days. The Department of Homeland Security noted that, “While some commenters provided support for the… Read more [More...]

Bipartisan Senate farm bill is a better way forward for families that struggle with food insecurity

Last month, we shared our concerns about the farm bill proposal being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill proposes deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) that could put 97,000… Read more [More...]

Denying immigrants access to the safety net would have terrible consequences for us all

Most Americans agree that it’s important to have a social safety net.  Bad luck and hard times can hit any of us, and when that happens there should be something there to keep us from falling into destitution while we… Read more [More...]