In many ways, Ģ����Ƶ’s economy is booming.

The state is attracting top-tier businesses, and more Ģ����Ƶns are working than ever before. In June of 2026, almost 5.3 million people held jobs in Ģ����Ƶ. The state’s unemployment rate was also just 3.4%, well below the national average of 4.2%.

And as of the end of 2025, Ģ����Ƶ had about 275,000 job openings.

That all sounds like great news—and it is.

But strong employment numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Many of Ģ����Ƶ’s job-seekers are still wrestling with a big question: “Where can I find a job I can actually get, keep, and live on?”

The Everyday Challenges of the Job Search in Ģ����Ƶ

A lack of motivation is rarely what stands between Ģ����Ƶns and meaningful work. 

Instead, many people are having a hard time figuring out which educational and training programs will open doors to available jobs. They may have general education backgrounds but not the specific skills, certifications, or hands-on experience today’s employers are looking for.

And finding a job that matches a job-seeker’s qualifications is only part of the equation. An employment opportunity also has to work with the realities of their everyday life. Families across Ģ����Ƶ can face barriers to work involving: 

• Access to child care
• Transportation to work
• Re-entry into the workforce after incarceration
• Disability-related challenges
• Distance to resources and good jobs for those in rural areas

These hurdles can make a seemingly good job much harder to take—or to keep—and families have to figure out whether the potential paycheck would really make them better off. 

The income alone might not be enough to overcome the obstacles people struggle with. It could even cause an individual or family to face a benefit cliff, where a small increase in earnings leads to a much bigger decrease in welfare (safety net) support.

There are currently about 800,000 Ģ����Ƶns who aren’t working full time, including:

• Unemployed people who are looking for jobs
• Part-time workers who want to work full time
• People who have given up looking for work

For many of these individuals, the challenges of the search for rewarding full-time work can be complicated and overwhelming. Despite their efforts, they may feel stuck, discouraged, and unsure of how to move forward.

How State Leaders Can Build a Better Path to Work

Ģ����Ƶ policymakers can take much-needed steps to improve the job-search process and help connect more people to promising jobs:

1. Align Workforce Development Programs with Employer Demand: People shouldn’t spend months completing an educational program only to discover there are few openings that they’re qualified for. To prevent this, Ģ����Ƶ’s workforce development programs can coordinate with schools, technical colleges, and employers to structure education and training opportunities so they equip Ģ����Ƶns with the in-demand skills that lead directly to fulfilling careers.
2. Remove the Obstacles That Keep People from Working: To help those who face barriers to work, Ģ����Ƶ lawmakers can continue exploring a to managing government benefits and workforce services. By better integrating welfare and workforce development programs, policymakers can empower state agencies to address beneficiaries’ needs more holistically—connecting people to work while making sure they get the vital support that will enable them to take a job.
3. Make Quality Child Care More Accessible: Ģ����Ƶ’s leaders can help make child care more affordable and available by taking a careful look at rules that may unintentionally make it harder and more expensive for providers to serve families. By considering regulatory changes while preserving quality and safety, policymakers can enable new providers to enter the market, give parents additional choices, and help working families find care that fits their lives. 
4. Eliminate Benefit Cliffs: To reward rather than penalize people’s efforts to work, policymakers can eliminate benefit cliffs by gradually decreasing public assistance as workers earn more. This will encourage people to take meaningful jobs, accept promotions, or work more hours without fear of a steep drop in critical support.

How Local Communities Can Open Doors for Job-Seekers

Nonprofits, churches, and other community groups can also take action to help close the gap between Ģ����Ƶ’s employment numbers and the reality many families experience:

1. Connect Job-Seekers to Employers: Community organizations can work together to identify people who are struggling to find or keep jobs and provide them with access to local work readiness programs and businesses that are hiring. 
2. Help Employers Find Candidates: Just as importantly, community groups can learn what local employers actually need and help them connect with qualified candidates they might otherwise miss. 
3. Provide Continuous Support to Working Families: Getting a job is just one step toward stability and prosperity. Communities can continue to encourage their neighbors and help them adapt as they start new jobs and adjust their family routines. 

The Real Measure of Economic Growth

Ģ����Ƶ has successfully attracted new employers and become a destination for major investments. But the real measure of economic growth isn’t how many jobs are available. It’s whether Ģ����Ƶns can access those jobs and turn them into flourishing lives.

A good job should do more than cover today’s bills. It should create tomorrow’s opportunities. It should make it easier to support a family, save for important purchases, and open doors to upward mobility.

When policymakers and communities come together to help job-seekers, a strong economy can be something even greater: a pathway to stable, family-sustaining work and a brighter future for Ģ����Ƶns across the state.

Additional Resources

Alliance for Opportunity

Alliance for Opportunity

City Journal

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity 

Non-Working Adults Concentrated in Ģ����Ƶ’s Distressed Communities

Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity 

Ģ����Ƶ Department of Labor

Governor Brian P. Kemp, Office of the Governor

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The post Ģ����Ƶ Has 275,000 Open Jobs—Why Is Getting One So Hard? appeared first on For Opportunity.

Benefit cliffs discourage work and trap families in long-term financial struggles. A new policy solution offers a way out.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is one of the largest anti-poverty programs in the U.S., providing over 41 million Americans with critical food assistance in 2024. But for many recipients, a system designed to support often ends up trapping—with significant barriers known as benefit cliffs.

These cliffs occur when small increases in income result in recipients suddenly losing their SNAP assistance, leaving them in a worse financial position for working more hours or earning an income boost. For example, a single parent’s modest hourly raise might lead to a benefit cut that completely offsets their increased take-home pay.

The negative ripple effects extend far beyond individuals and households. Benefit cliffs reduce workforce participation and make it harder for plenty of small businesses and industries to find the workers they need to grow and serve customers.

A new proposal for reform, developed with research by Erik Randolph at the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity in collaboration with Angela Rachidi of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), offers a way to dismantle SNAP benefit cliffs and restore the program’s original mission—helping families achieve financial independence and stability.

SNAP’s design discourages career growth among recipients

SNAP is meant to help low-income families put food on the table. But the system unintentionally penalizes those who pursue better wages or career opportunities.

For many recipients, earning extra income—not just large raises but even modest increases as one gains skills or works more hours—means abruptly losing SNAP benefits altogether. Instead of slowly tapering down, benefits “fall off a cliff” as income rises.

This financial disincentive creates a dilemma for households relying on SNAP. While accepting additional shifts or applying for a higher-paying position could signify career growth, it may financially set them back without SNAP assistance offsetting basic expenses.

The economic impact is widespread. With fewer prime-age workers, employers encounter labor shortages, and their ability to operate efficiently is compromised. Workforce productivity also declines when workers are stuck in part-time, lower-skilled jobs rather than advancing to higher economic opportunities. The result is a cycle that makes it harder for families to break free from reliance on public assistance programs.

New SNAP reform proposals offer a way forward

Research by AEI and GCO outlines actionable steps to eliminate benefit cliffs while maintaining SNAP costs close to historical levels. These recommendations include changes to critical factors within the program’s structure to allow for a smoother, gradual reduction in benefits as income rises.

Key reforms involve adjusting the following elements of SNAP’s benefit system:

• Adjust participants’ cost-sharing responsibilities.��The proposed plan would reduce the benefit reduction rate from 30% to 18%, making it easier for families to transition off benefits.
• Cost-sharing should begin as soon as income increases.��Right now, deductions delay cost-sharing, which creates benefits cliffs when income limits run out. The new plan is a middle ground, starting benefit reductions earlier but at a lower rate. While it might lower benefits for many families, benefit cliffs are eliminated or reduced.

These structural adjustments effectively close the gap between earned income and benefit loss, removing financial penalties for participants who work more hours or accept higher-paying opportunities.

A win for workers, families, small businesses, and taxpayers

Simplifying and improving SNAP’s benefit structure solves major labor market challenges. For recipients, reforms encourage workforce participation and career advancement, empowering them to climb the economic ladder without fear of a financial setback.

For employers, these changes help restore a steady supply of available workers, addressing hiring difficulties in industries that rely on hourly, shift-based, or entry-level staff. Additionally, SNAP reform creates fiscal balance while allowing the government to save money long term—potentially reducing program expenses by 27% or $30 billion annually.

GCO continues to investigate ways to improve safety-net programs to help families escape poverty, and these recommendations for SNAP are an important piece of those efforts. Employment is one of the most reliable ways to break cycles of poverty, yet benefit cliffs trap too many families in stagnant economic conditions. Eliminating these barriers will strengthen the workforce, stabilize families, and create economic momentum that benefits us all.

Download the full report from American Enterprise Institute and Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity here.

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At a time when income inequality and lack of economic mobility are hot topics, a report from the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity (GCO) sheds light on how our social safety-net system could be contributing to these trends. 

Entitled “Workforce Engagement: A Missing Link in Understanding Income Inequality,” the report explores how government support unintentionally discourages low-income workers from escaping poverty. The report also presents actionable policy solutions to avoid that trap.

What Are Safety-Net Benefits?

Safety-net systems include programs like food stamps, housing subsidies, and Medicaid, designed to provide financial assistance to those in need. While these programs are essential, they can inadvertently create barriers to long-term financial independence. This phenomenon is known as the “benefits cliff,” where individuals and families turn down career advancement opportunities to avoid losing government benefits.

The Source of Income Disparities

The GCO report reveals that government benefits often obscure the true income disparities between low-income and middle-income households.

When examining work-capable households, the unearned income from government benefits can paint a misleading picture of economic equality. Without these benefits, it’s clear that households in the lowest income quintile earn significantly less than their counterparts in higher income quintiles.

The report also highlights how these safety-net benefits can create disincentives for the lowest-paid workers to move up the economic ladder. For instance, after adjusting for taxes and transfer payments, the net income of households in the lowest quintile is almost equal to those in the second quintile, despite the latter earning nearly four times more. 

This equalization is largely driven by government transfers, which provide significantly more support to the bottom quintile compared to the second quintile. This scenario leads to nearly identical average per capita net incomes between these groups.

Workforce Engagement

A Missing Link in Understanding Income Inequality

The��compelling new report that examines the unintended consequences of our nation’s social safety-net system on low-wage workers.

Download the full report

Policy Recommendations

Understanding the dynamics of income inequality and the unintended consequences of social safety-net systems is crucial for fostering economic mobility and improving the quality of life for low-income workers.

To boost workforce engagement and reduce reliance on social safety nets, the report suggests several policy reforms:

• Reducing Benefits Cliffs: Adjust thresholds for benefit eligibility to prevent sudden losses of support as income increases.
• Work Incentives: Offer incentives for part-time workers to transition into full-time roles.
• Education and Training: Provide better access to educational resources and vocational training programs.

GCO is dedicated to working within underserved communities to understand the realities of poverty and the public policies that perpetuate it. Our previous research, including on intergenerational poverty, underscores that America’s social safety net is designed to address situational poverty rather than systemic poverty.

The post How safety-net benefits discourage low-income workers from escaping poverty appeared first on For Opportunity.

Key Points

• Research has shown that safe communities, stable relationships, and meaningful education and work are essential to making poverty escapable.��
• In 2023, we focused on helping communities develop solutions and tools to improve public safety, jobs, education and student achievement, and family formation.��
• Through these accomplishments in 2023, more communities are being empowered to help people imagine and pursue better futures for themselves.��

It seems like everywhere you go these days, people are struggling. You can see it on street corners, in grocery stores, in news headlines, and—most heartbreaking of all—in the eyes of the people who have lost hope.

What they need is opportunity. And that’s exactly what the mission of the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity (GCO) is built to deliver. As the year draws to a close, let’s take a moment to celebrate the good that has been done to alleviate poverty by removing barriers to opportunity and creating conditions that empower people to flourish and achieve their full potential.

The good news is that research consistently shows that people who experience personal safety, get a good education, find meaningful work, and have healthy, committed relationships only have a 2% chance of falling into poverty. And for those currently living in poverty, these opportunities are the way out to experience freedom and flourishing.

In 2023, GCO celebrated big wins in several key areas that foster community transformation: public safety, jobs, education, and family formation. Here are a few examples of how we’ve helped our neighbors live better and build thriving communities.��

Public safety

Thanks to our public safety research, we convened state policymakers and city leaders in Atlanta and Columbus to look at the causes of increasing violence, and provided a proven set of practical solutions for reducing crime—especially in low-income communities. At the national level, our public safety recommendations were well received in Dallas and, and an we co-authored reached 28.7 million people through Newsweek. Soon thereafter, MSN and other media outlets amplified its reach to another 167.1 million Americans.

And given how important it is for people to live in safe communities where they feel comfortable walking around and living their lives, we also created a resource page on our website so that elected officials, law enforcement, and community leaders can easily find the best practices for addressing crime.��

Workforce

On the jobs front, our program continues to help communities build local employment support systems that bring employers, nonprofits, and community partners together to help more Ģ����Ƶns find local jobs. We’ve also joined forces with Lyft to help people get to work and focused on solutions to the benefits cliff challenges that keep many mired in government dependency.��

Safety-net reform

This year, GCO remained on the vanguard of educating lawmakers and the public about the need for reforming the safety net. Broadly, we worked to reveal the challenges posed by benefits cliffs, which discourage people from looking for meaningful work and gaining independence. Specifically, we expanded our impact to Utah, Arkansas, and Missouri, in addition to launching a redesigned benefits cliffs website and calculator that adds Utah and West Virginia to the models.

As we educate states and businesses about the benefits cliff problem within the welfare system, we are also developing solutions that equip them to do something about it. This year, we released our first report focused on benefits cliffs solutions, which focused on fixes for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

��

Education

Our efforts to expand educational opportunity have given nearly 84,000 Ģ����Ƶ kids access to the schooling option that best fits their needs. And we led efforts to advance a groundbreaking school choice bill through the state senate. This means there’s strong momentum going into 2024 to expand education options for 500,000 more students stuck in Ģ����Ƶ’s failing schools. We also updated our Education Guide for parents and received the Lilburn Middle School Business Partner Recognition Award for partnering to deliver free relationship education classes for parents and students.

See How The Ģ����Ƶ Is Expanding Hope In 2024!

See How The Ģ����Ƶ Is Expanding Hope In 2024!

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Family

For families, parents continued to graduate from our. And GCO kicked off our Raising Highly Capable Kids (RHCK) program with a vision-casting meeting attended by more than 20 community organizations. By reaching into homes, schools, and faith-based groups, RHCK teaches parents how to raise responsible, caring kids—and turns local communities into nurturing places where healthy families help people escape poverty. An example of how RHCK brings key stakeholders together to foster thriving families is the Lilly Endowment grant that introduced the Parents First Initiative to Lawrenceville.

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National and state impact

Finally, GCO had a number of important wins with far-reaching, favorable media coverage on topics we care deeply about. This means that our voice was out there advancing importance conversations about human flourishing. For example, ran our opinion piece calling out pre- and post-COVID crime comparisons for what they really are—an excuse not to blame bad public safety policies. And RealClearPolicy ran an on our ideas to make safety nets more successful at turning welfare into work support.

Beyond these, GCO’s views were featured in important conversations about Ģ����Ƶ’s position among the leading states for economic freedom and why people remain when there are so many public assistance programs. And for those concerned about rising crime across the nation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution carried our on public safety.

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Wrapping up

Of course, these are just a handful of GCO’s successes in 2023. Yet each win adds to the legacy we are building to help our neighbors enjoy meaningful and productive lives in safe, vibrant communities that value work, education, and family. We’re proud of our successes this year, and we look forward to continuing to advance common-sense policy solutions in 2024 that bring greater peace, dignity, and freedom to individuals and families across Ģ����Ƶ and beyond.

The post Year in Review: A look back at how opportunity expanded in 2023 appeared first on For Opportunity.

Many Americans rely on SNAP benefits to afford food, but these same individuals and families face a trap that keeps them mired in dependency. It’s called the SNAP benefits cliff. A new report from the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity analyzes some possible solutions for addressing the benefits cliffs still present in safety-net programs like SNAP. 

What are benefits cliffs?

A benefits cliff is when an individual, family, or household loses more in net income and benefits from governmental assistance programs than it gains from additional earnings. This net loss is a perverse incentive that undermines the natural desire to earn more income.

At an individual level—or in the case of SNAP, at a household level—the impact has to do with the ability of the individual or household to overcome the cliff. If the household can increase its earnings (and other income) sufficiently relative to the loss in benefits and taxes, the cliff will have no impact on that specific individual or household.

Who is hurt the most by benefits cliffs?

Our computational analysis shows that it is mathematically possible for some one-member households, where the individual is disabled or elderly, to overcome a benefits cliff with a pay raise of less than 5%. However, almost all other households will require percentage income increases in the double digits or worse.

Larger families, especially those without elderly or disabled members of the household, fare much worse. For example, a family of four (where a single mom is raising three kids, for example) would require a pay raise of between 37% and 121%, assuming the family doesn’t have housing costs. For larger households with disabled or elderly members, that pay raise ranged from 30% to 109%.

Solving the food assistance (SNAP) Benefits Cliffs

Our comprehensive report on the SNAP Benefits Cliffs outlines the pitfalls in the current structure of the program and steps that can be made at a federal, state, and agency level.

Learn More Ģ����Ƶ This Report

Running the numbers: the impact of benefits cliffs

A family of four would begin experiencing SNAP benefits cliffs when their household income exceeds $36,084. This family would lose around $462.42 in SNAP benefits each month. To overcome those lost benefits, that same family would need to earn $58,280 a year, a 61.5 percent increase in income.

What is the marriage penalty? 

Another example of benefits cliffs’ detrimental impacts lies in the marriage penalty. For instance, a couple choosing to marry would leave them worse off financially by getting married than by staying single. Instead, many couples decide to remain unmarried to avoid the financial burden of the marriage penalty. 

SNAP benefits cliffs are at a 20-year high

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SNAP maximum allotments were raised significantly—between 45% and 51%. The Thrifty Food Plan was recalculated by the USDA, which impacted these increases. However, SNAP’s current benefits cliffs are at a 20-year high and may be the highest they’ve ever been. 

The situation is getting worse

Setting aside COVID-19 and the emergency allotment program, SNAP benefits cliffs are getting worse and, based on twenty years of data, have never been higher. This was not always the trend. The benefits cliffs cycled up to a high in 2009, slowly came down, and then leveled off for a few years. However, since the pandemic, they have all shot up to record highs.

Policy goals for improvement

We recommend approaching change from a policy perspective, and engaging Congress and the states to solve the problems with SNAP’s benefits cliffs. 

As a public policy goal, it would make sense to design a safety-net assistance program in such a manner that it minimizes potential cliffs for most cases. We believe that it should be relatively easy for individuals and households to overcome benefits cliffs by earning additional income. 

Our recommendations include:��

• Limiting how long future emergency allotment programs last 
• Requiring the USDA to recalculate the Thrifty Food Plan
• Permanently eliminating benefits cliffs that a typical pay raise can’t mitigate
• Implementing strategies to prevent marriage penalties 
• Amending U.S. code to test potential solutions via demonstration projects
• Opening the floor for the Secretary of Agriculture to work with states to solve benefits cliffs
• Allowing states to conduct §2026 demonstration projects

The post Solving the food stamp benefits cliffs appeared first on For Opportunity.

Key Points��

• The full results of the midterms are still to be decided.
• One thing hasn’t changed — the need to expand opportunity.
• We also see opportunities to impact our neighbors for good in a few key policy areas – education, work, and family.

Election day has come and gone, and we still have many unanswered questions about the leadership of our country. The full results of the midterms are still to be decided. What’s clear is that Ģ����Ƶ will once again play a key role in the results, with a runoff in the U.S. Senate campaign scheduled for Dec. 6. Once more, our state will have to endure a barrage of political ads as the nation watches to see what the results will be.

While questions are sure to persist in the days and weeks to come as we resolve political leadership, one thing hasn’t changed — the need to expand opportunity. While who holds the reins of power in Washington and Atlanta does matter, ultimately it’s in local communities where the true change happens that leads to human flourishing.

As for us at the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity, we are ready to take on big challenges as we close out the year and move into the next. Our community-based work of connecting people to work, education, and family training resources is still at the heart of what we do. But we also see opportunities to impact our neighbors for good in a few key policy areas. We’re focused on:

• Education: With a better understanding of who will be leading in our state, we see a great opportunity to expand educational freedom in Ģ����Ƶ in 2023. This battle has lasted a long time but the nearly 500,000 kids in failing Ģ����Ƶ schools need us to step in and demand change.

   

• Work: We also see opportunities to radically change the policies that trap people in generational cycles of government dependency. Our goal is to help thousands more of our neighbors move into work and the joy of accomplishment and pride that comes with it.

   

• Family: We hope to seize the opportunity to address the penalties that are discouraging marriage in low-income communities, creating a system that destabilizes families and the support they bring to us all.��

“While who holds the reins of power in Washington and Atlanta does matter, ultimately it’s in local communities where the true change happens that leads to human flourishing.”

“While who holds the reins of power in Washington and Atlanta does matter, ultimately it’s in local communities where the true change happens that leads to human flourishing.”

Policy does matter, but real change happens in our neighborhoods and communities where real life happens. It’s in communities where we first learn to love, trust, and experience sacrifice on behalf of something beyond ourselves. And it’s in communities where we find the answers to our most pressing problems. Regardless of who leads our state and federal government, that truth will never change.

The post The midterm election is over (sort of). What’s next? appeared first on For Opportunity.

Key Points

• Around 454,100 Ģ����Ƶns are missing from the labor force.
• The labor force participation rate is a better barometer of the labor market than the unemployment rate because it includes workers who have simply given up looking for work and are sitting on the sidelines of the labor market altogether.
• We need to answer, how to reintegrate these prime-age, work-capable workers back into the labor force?

A new analysis from the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity shows that around 454,100 Ģ����Ƶns are missing from the labor force. This figure comes even as pundits celebrate a statewide and national unemployment rate that remains at historic lows.��

The startling statistic shows a hidden story behind the unemployment rate that reveals deeper cracks in the labor market that will cause problems for years to come, both in the economy and in individuals’ lives. The reason why this matters is not strictly an economic one — we know that these individuals’ giving up on work has profound social, psychological, and relational impacts that extend well beyond the pocketbook.

When individuals are separated from work, they lose more than just monetary compensation or the food, shelter, clothing, and other basics that money can buy. They also face a loss of social connection, meaningful activity, self-respect, and overall purpose.

The numbers

Here’s a quick deep dive into the numbers. , which is a tick higher than the previous low of 3.5% but still at historic lows. .

The troubling trend is in the labor force participation rate, however. This rate is a better barometer of the labor market than the unemployment rate because it includes workers who have simply given up looking for work and are sitting on the sidelines of the labor market altogether. The U.S. labor force participation rate was at 62.2% in October, down from a pre-pandemic rate of 63.4% in February 2020.

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Those detached from work

It’s important to note that the 454,100 figure developed by the GCO team does not include those unable to work, those who were retired, those in school or college full-time, and full-time caregivers for minor children in the home. In other words, that nearly half-million figure is people who are able to work but have simply decided to detach from the labor force altogether, for some other reason.

As for reasons why workers have quit, they are widespread and complex. The better question is how to reintegrate these prime-age, work-capable workers back into the labor force. That is a primary goal of the Ģ����Ƶ Center for Opportunity’s BETTER WORK initiative, currently operating in Gwinnett County and the Columbus areas of Ģ����Ƶ but soon to expand into many additional regions across the state.��

We see success stories like that of Eddie, who spent nearly five years on the street, homeless and working odd jobs, before getting connected with BETTER WORK Columbus and partner organizations to find stable housing, food security, and a long-term job. The goal of such programs is to get people into stable, self-supporting work so they can escape poverty and dependency cycles.

The GCO team also works to educate policymakers on the perils of benefits cliffs that keep people trapped in cycles of dependency and prevent them from moving up the economic ladder. People like Frankie, a single mom who turned down a $70,000-a-year job because it would mean losing essential government benefits that she relied on to support her family. The goal here is for policymakers to make wise decisions about the safety net so that we don’t continue to pour funds into a failing system.

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The thought of someone turning down a well-paying job to stay on welfare seems absurd. But that’s the exact scenario Frankie Johnson faced. It’s a real world example of the way benefit cliffs hurt people. Thankfully, Frankie found the BETTER WORK program and is on a new path to success.

An unexpected journey in life

Frankie Johnson, a Washington, D.C. native, grew up in a middle-class neighborhood and spent time serving her community. Through her community service work, she connected with many individuals who were victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, job loss, and poverty. By the time she’d reached her teens, Frankie knew she found fulfillment in working alongside others to improve their lives. 

At age 14, Frankie became pregnant with her first child, Evelyn. She gave birth just before her 15th birthday. She went on to get an internship through Job Corps, then earn her high school diploma. After graduation, she attended California College of the Arts in San Francisco, where she planned to study photography and 3D installation. 

But leaving Evelyn in Maryland with her parents while she studied in California proved to be too difficult a separation for Frankie. She moved to New York instead, which allowed her to see her daughter more often. 

At age 18, Frankie married a member of the military who was six years her senior. His deployments and resulting war-related trauma proved to be difficult on the family and the couple’s marriage. For the next six years, they lived in Texas and the Midwest before returning to Maryland. Steadily, the situation with Frankie’s husband deteriorated.

It’s time to stop funding poverty. And start finding solutions.

Learn How To Fix The Cliff

High aspirations, hidden pain

Despite the trouble at home, Frankie was a high achiever, building a career in human resources and working for firms such as Monumental Sports and the Nick Cannon Foundation. She worked as a high-end event planner, where she regularly brushed elbows with celebrities and influencers. 

When the family returned to Maryland, Frankie found herself heading up events for women who were victims of domestic violence. Meanwhile, at home, she was living in an abusive environment herself. 

“At home, I never knew what was going to become of my peace or if he was going to get triggered,” Frankie says. “I was serving in the community as a social worker. I put on events for women, took them on yacht parties, and tried to boost their self-esteem. No one knew I was suffering so much.”

Finally, the situation in Frankie’s home came to a head, and she fled to Atlanta with her children. Her uncle lived in the city, and she planned to make a fresh start there. 

But that fresh start didn’t come quickly or easily. 

Seeking safety in Atlanta

Without a job or a place to live, Frankie was forced to seek out government assistance and transitional housing in Gwinnett County for her family. 

“This was my first time being on the opposite side of transitional housing and understanding what the women who would talk to me [in the past] were going through,” she says. “It was strange to see the scarce resources, and to see women locked out of their hotels because the projects or community partners ran out of funding.” 

Transitional housing in hotels and apartments can cost women $500 or more per week, and according to Frankie, the living conditions are unsafe and unsanitary. Worse, residents got a chilly reception from their case workers when they raised concerns. 

“The water makes your skin itchy, and there are roaches coming up out of the sink and the drains,” Frankie says. “We were told we needed to boil our water to use it. It comes [out of the faucets] brown, and we had brown rashes on our bodies.”

While Frankie’s family was living in transitional housing, she experienced relentless prejudice, racism, and ridicule. 

“I had people come to my hotel, and ask me if I was a prostitute because my daughter said we were living in a hotel at school,” she says. “Someone from [the Department of Family and Children Services] came to my apartment and asked if I left my children [alone] at nighttime. He asked me if I was a stripper.” 

Forced to choose between assistance and higher income

While Frankie was waiting for available childcare and a pathway to affordable housing, she was forced to turn down a job placement that would have paid $70,000 per year. While she needed employment, she also needed the support from the government program. That was her ticket to a home she could afford, but she wouldn’t qualify if she took a new job that raised her income past eligibility requirements. 

“I never thought it would come to this,” she says. “I hadn’t prepared financially; I spent through my savings because I was waiting on childcare.” 

Frankie found herself trapped on what we call the Benefits Cliff — torn between taking steps toward a more secure future, but ultimately forced into making decisions that trapped her into long-term dependence on government benefits. Individuals and families who make over a certain amount of income per year are automatically struck from the list, and are no longer qualified for affordable housing, food support, or other government assistance. 

“They want to see your pay stubs, your bank statements. They want to make sure you’re poor,” Frankie says. “If you have a car, they want to know what kind of car you’re driving and if you have insurance. They want to make sure there’s no possible way you can work a job.”

“If there are no daycare facilities within a 30-mile radius of where you place me in my hotel and I don’t have a car to take my child a city over, I’m not going to be able to get a job,” she added. “Who’s going to watch my child all day?” 

Families in these transitional programs often find themselves stuck paying high bills while they await affordable housing. Frankie was forced to pay more than $2,000 per month for the hotel she and her children stayed in. Financially, staying put made no sense, but Frankie held on in hopes that affordable housing would come through. 

Leaving transitional housing puts parents at risk of losing their children to CPS, particularly if they’re perceived as living out of their vehicle. On the other hand, getting a higher-paying job disqualifies them from further government and charitable support. 

“It’s like a loophole to keep you destitute,” Frankie says. 

Dreams for a brighter future��

After three months in transitional housing, Frankie was able to connect with BETTER WORK Gwinnett. Her case worker, Luisa, formed a close connection with her, encouraging her and checking in on her as she prepared for a fresh start. 

“We lost our jobs during the pandemic,” Frankie says, “and that was the time when we needed encouragement and to find our way again — laugh again. Ms. Lusia provided a lot of that. She called me every day just to check on me.”  

After experiencing the frustration, humiliation, and helplessness of transitional housing herself — including witnessing another mother abandon her children when her time at the hotel was up — Frankie wants to help other women in similar circumstances. She hopes to go to law school to provide legal aid to other families who have suffered at the mercy of the system. 

“We need to get them their GEDs and diplomas. Start them off as home health aides, CPAs, LPNs, RNs, physician’s assistants, or doctors,” Frankie says, “But no one’s willing to help. They just want to enable their programs to get money for housing us. After that, you’re out on the street like a dog.”  

As for Frankie, she’s working with Luisa to get back into the human resources field, and considering a move to a more affordable city in south Alabama. 

“I’m not going to sit and wait for anyone to take care of me,” she says. “For the women who don’t have options, I’m going to school to fight for them.”

The post Why One Woman Turned Down a $70K Job Due to the Benefits Cliffs appeared first on For Opportunity.