There's still time to RSVP for our annual Consumer Champion Awards Celebration on Thursday, October 12, from 6 PM to 8 PM at 1705West. Join us for food and drinks as we recognize this year's amazing Consumer Champions!

1705West is Atlanta's premier event space with a purpose, as it is home to Meals on Wheels Atlanta. All proceeds for booking their unique venue go towards feeding Atlanta seniors in need.

Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Liz Coyle at 404-525-1085 or lcoyle@georgiawatch.org for more information. Funds raised from this event will support our mission to protect and inform consumers so all Georgians prosper, and their communities thrive.

The Biden-Harris administration announced that it is taking executive action to prevent medical debt from impacting credit scores. This important action comes just over a week after Georgia Watch executive director Liz Coyle traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of a Medical Debt Day of Action convened by Community Catalyst. Together, 70+ organizations and advocates urged the Biden administration to take more aggressive action to address the medical debt crisis in America. One key ask was for the administration to take action to stop medical debt from showing up on credit scores. Georgia residents also shared their stories and urged the Biden administration to prohibit medical debt from impacting credit scores.

Georgia Watch, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory Rollins School of Public Health, and other partners hosted the Maternal and Child Health Policy Workshop to help turn policy ideas into action. This workshop guided participants through developing a policy pitch with the help of subject experts. Groups created legislative and budget asks centered around affordable maternal and child healthcare, paid maternal leave, Community Health Workers, and more. Participants presented their pitches before policy experts for constructive feedback, empowering them to take their priorities to the Capitol.

We thank all the subject experts, panelists, and attendees for helping to make our Maternal and Child Health Policy Workshop a success! If you are interested in participating in or hosting a Policy Workshop, please contact Natasha Taylor (ntaylor@georgiawatch.org) or Kate Billard (kbillard@georgiawatch.org) for more information.

Lilly Pope joins Georgia Watch as a Rollins Earn and Learn intern through Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health as a first-year MPH student in the Health Policy Department. She graduated from the College of William & Mary last spring with a double major in Public Health and Public Policy. Lilly is passionate about health equity and health disparities. She hopes to one day channel these passions into legislative policy work. She looks forward to joining the Georgia Watch team and advocating for consumer protection in and out of the healthcare industry!