At the end of this month, Berneta Haynes will be transitioning out of her position as Senior Director of Policy and Access at Georgia Watch. Since joining Georgia Watch nearly 5 years ago, Berneta has been instrumental to the evolution of our mission and vision, including our shift to an explicit focus on the nexus between consumer protection and racial justice. Berneta has championed our mission to protect and inform consumers so all Georgians prosper and communities thrive.

An attorney and dedicated advocate for energy equity and health equity in particular, Berneta brought a unique mix of legal and digital advocacy expertise to impact pressing consumer issues. Most notably, Berneta has spearheaded our efforts to uplift Community Health Workers, including building the Georgia Community Health Worker Advocacy Coalition. She has steered advocacy efforts aimed at reducing medical debt, producing important consumer materials like the Georgia Consumer Guide for Medical Bills and Debt and successfully working with partners to achieve passage of the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act last year. Over the years, her steadfast work and relentless commitment to equity and justice has brought Georgia Watch greater national recognition in consumer protection and has led to pivotal support for our vital policy work.

We are proud of her accomplishments while serving here and are grateful for her significant contributions to consumer protection in Georgia. While we are sad that Berneta is leaving us, we are excited to watch her continue her journey as a public policy champion!

Medical debt can strike at any time, with crippling financial consequences for many families. Over half of debt collection actions contain medical debts, often leading to bankruptcy. In Georgia, where our rate of uninsured individuals is third in the nation and our lawmakers have refused Medicaid expansion, medical debt traps already cash-strapped Georgians into a cycle of poverty. This crisis is particularly acute in Southwest Georgia, which has some of the highest insurance premiums in the country.

With funding from Community Catalyst, Georgia Watch has partnered with Georgians for a Healthy Future and SOWEGA Rising to address medical billing practices in Southwest Georgia. Through this 16-month project, we will promote medical billing transparency in Georgia by working with community members, community health workers, and community-based groups in Southwest Georgia to develop community-driven policy solutions. As we embark upon this critical project to improve hospital billing practices, we want to hear from Georgians struggling with significant medical bills.

In partnership with Georgians for a Healthy Future, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Georgia Advancing Communities Together, Inc., Georgia Watch officially kicked off Community Voices for Health—Georgia to promote stronger community engagement in policy decisions affecting the health of Georgians. Supported with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this multi-year project that started in February 2020 specifically aims to equip Community Health Workers ("CHWs") with the tools they need to mobilize their communities and engage in effective policy advocacy.

When COVID-19 swept the world in early March 2020, Community Voices for Health—Georgia recognized the need to adjust our priorities to be more responsive to the unprecedented emergency. In fact, the public health crisis highlighted the critical urgency of the project's aim to strengthen CHWs' capacity to advocate for policy solutions in their communities. As a first step in June 2020, we launched the Advocates for Change board ("Board"), comprised of five CHWs from around the state. The dedicated members of the Board hail from Atlanta, Macon, Columbus, Central Georgia, and Albany. Over the past eleven months, they have provided invaluable expertise supporting our data collection efforts and the development of a civic advocacy skills training for CHWs.

As we prepare to launch the "Civic Advocacy, Leadership, and Engagement" training for CHWs after a successful pilot last month, we are more excited than ever about the progress we have made during this extraordinary time in our state. Never before has the importance of health equity and the need to organize communities around policy improvements in healthcare been more evident! We are looking forward to working with CHWs and partner organizations as we continue this effort to promote a culture of health in Georgia.

We are looking for a confident and passionate public policy professional to serve as Director of Policy and Access. The Director will work to ensure access to healthcare to improve the health and financial well-being of all Georgians, particularly low-income and people of color. Learn more and apply today!