Happy Holidays from Georgia Watch! |
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The holiday season is here, and Georgia Watch has much to celebrate with you all. This year, we have embraced the challenge of tackling a wide range of consumer issues and reaching Georgians statewide to ensure equitable access to opportunities and resources for all. We work tirelessly to uplift the voices of consumers where decisions are being made that impact your quality of life.
We are grateful for your support in helping us protect and inform consumers. Your commitment to our mission has enabled us to make a powerful difference in ensuring equity and justice for all Georgians. Our work to protect consumers from predatory lending, help people access affordable healthcare, keep utility bills low, and promote access to civil justice is critical to creating thriving communities.
We are dedicated to being your trusted and relentless advocate. On behalf of the Georgia Watch team, we send you and your loved ones warm wishes. We look forward to our continued partnership with you in 2024!
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Liz Coyle
Executive Director
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With your support, Georgia Watch advanced equitable policies and outreach that support thriving communities for all Georgians by:
Advocacy
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Hosting the 2023 Financial Protection and Economic Opportunity Summit that brought together local, state, and national community leaders and partners to discuss policy solutions for issues surrounding wage garnishment and bank levy, predatory lending, medical debt, hospital closures and accountability, and assessing equity impact.
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Collaborating on the Medical Debt project and advocating for increased hospital transparency and an end to medical debt. Our executive director, Liz Coyle, traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Medical Debt Day of Action to urge the Biden-Harris administration to do more to address the medical debt crisis. This action resulted in the Biden-Harris administration announcing they would take executive steps to remove medical debt from credit reports.
- Reaching agreement, along with Public Interest staff at the Commission, to lower the costs Georgia Power could charge customers by nearly $3 billion and expanding access to the income-qualified discount program to 96,000 more Georgians.
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Advocating for HB 321, The Motor Vehicle Title Loan Act, introduced by Representative Josh Bonner, to require statewide regulation of car title lenders by the Department of Banking and Finance, making them subject to the state's regulation and interest rate caps on small-dollar loans.
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Successfully staving off two bills that could have harmed Georgia consumers: SB 254, which would authorize third-party earned wage access (EWA) providers to operate in the state and avoid interest rate caps on their loans, and HB 187, which would allow for-profit credit repair organizations (CROs) to charge consumers exorbitant fees for deceptive services.
Direct Assistance and Education
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Hosting our Maternal and Child Health policy workshop for the American Public Health Association (APHA) Day of Action, where we guided over 90 public health professionals from around the country through the process of developing policy solutions to address disparities in maternal and child healthcare.
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Conducting policy workshops in collaboration with Emory University, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia, and Morehouse School of Medicine to provide public health students with the tools to advocate to local and state policymakers on maternal health issues.
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Updating the “Georgia Consumer Guide for Medical Bills and Debt” to include immigrant and refugee health rights, recent surprise billing protection laws, and emergency services rights.
- Directly assisting dozens of consumers who contacted us for advice on dealing with utility bills, predatory lending, medical billing, garnishment, and other quality-of-life challenges.
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Reaching more than 400 consumers and advocates through educational workshops, presentations, and webinars.
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Expanding our Civic Advocacy, Leadership, and Engagement training series by adding modules on immigrant health rights and maternal and child health.
Outreach and Engagement
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Presenting our strategy to empower consumers throughout the state to demand a better quality of public and private services at the Changing the Odds Network Year-End Convening—a strategy built in partnership with the Annie E. Casey Foundation Atlanta Civic Site.
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Addressing disparities in access to care for refugee and immigrant populations through our first “Unity in Healthcare Day” hosted in Clarkston.
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Hosting the inaugural Community Health Worker Awareness Day at the State Capitol. This event included over 150 CHWs, allies, employers, government officials, and supporters who gathered to raise awareness of the key role that Community Health Workers have in engaging and uplifting Georgia communities.
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Honoring six Consumer Champions for steadfastly standing up for the interests of Georgia consumers.
- And much more!
We are proud of what we achieved in 2023 with your support and are eager to see what we will accomplish together in the next year. Ensuring equity and justice for all Georgians will remain our top priority.
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Georgia Watch Awarded Grant Funding from Georgia Health Initiative |
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We are pleased to receive a $75,000 grant from Georgia Health Initiative (GHI) to support working toward a Georgia in which all people have the opportunity to attain their fullest health potential. We are grateful to GHI for recognizing that effective, lasting systems change requires advocacy that elevates the voices, stories, and experiences of Georgians. This grant will support our ongoing efforts to equip Community Health Workers (CHWs) with resources and training on civic advocacy and engagement enabling them to strategically mobilize around immigrant and refugee health equity. Civic advocacy education is crucial to promoting health equity in Georgia and addressing the unique healthcare challenges these communities face. CHWs have long assisted in helping refugees and immigrants overcome access barriers by bridging gaps in resources, providing translation and interpretation services, and advocating to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities. Thanks again to GHI for dedicating funding to inspire and promote collective action that advances health equity for all Georgians.
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Georgia Watch Awarded Remaining Funds from Class Action Settlement |
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This month, we were honored to receive an award of $72,221 in residual funds from the TIMS v. LGE COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION class action settlement litigated by Webb, Klase, and Lemond, LLC on behalf of plaintiffs Carol Tims, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated. The case related to the assessment of overdraft fees. We are grateful to District Court Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr. for designating Georgia Watch for this award.
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Georgia Watch
55 Marietta Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30303
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