Georgia First

Georgia has 1.2 million small businesses. Small business owners are the backbone of our state economy and now more than ever, they need our support! Join us in celebrating #ShopSmallSaturday2024 by visiting your #MainStreet & downtown areas to support local merchants; shop your favorite Etsy shop or online store; find a nearby Makers Market to buy holiday gifts; or ask friends and family members for their favorite recommendations. #ShopSmall #SmallBiz

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Georgia First!

A "...magnetic personality, charisma, straight-talking...never wavered" and "...most trustworthy of colleagues...the ability to do the right thing in really tough times...Johnny was that person...". Don't we all aspire to this---to have our colleagues describe us this way and to say with conviction that they would have crawled over cut glass to honor our contributions. These are just a few examples of how Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) and former North Dakota Senator, Heidi Heitkamp (D) described their friend and United States Senate colleague, and Georgia's own, Senator Johnny Isakson. It was a privilege for our staff to attend the 2nd Annual Johnny Isakson Symposium on Political Civility last week, and a sobering reminder of how declining civility and the loss of trust are impacting our elected leaders' ability to get things done. Trust and civility were key components of why Senator Isakson was such an effective leader for not just Georgia, but the entire country. He understood the importance of the parties working across the aisle because that's where the best policy with the greatest good can be found.

As we officially kick off the Thanksgiving holiday, the Georgia First staff and Executive Board, Clint Roberts, Alisha Thomas Searcy, Jonathan (JT) Wu, and Lee Mulkey, would like to express thanks for our funding partners, big and small, who consistently support our work year-after-year. We are grateful for their support and the privilege to serve as advocates for Georgia's hardworking middle class.

Georgia First celebrates Georgia’s rural hospitals healthcare workers this #NationalRuralHealthDay! Thank you for all you do to keep our rural communities healthy!

Our own Founder & Executive Director, and Chair of the BRIDGE Georgia healthcare coalition, Natalie Adams Crawford was honored to serve on the panel "What's Next for #Medicaid: Policy, Politics and Putting Patients First" at this week's American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Partners & Priorities Meeting in Arlington, VA. Natalie joined panelists from the Mississippi Center for Health Policy and Black Voters Matter. #BRIDGEga

As more employers are implementing RTO policies, both full-time and hybrid, a 2024 survey found: "Remote work is more important for parents and caretakers. Compared to non-caretakers (66%), 75% of parents/caretakers who prefer remote work say it’s because of work-life balance, and 61% say it’s because it allows them to fulfill their family responsibilities (vs. 38% non-caretakers)." With a booming Georgia economy in many areas of the state where there is little or no access to childcare, employers have an opportunity to attract new and incentivize existing employees by considering employer-sponsored childcare options for their employees.

Closing the healthcare coverage gap in Georgia is good---good healthcare policy, good economic policy, good fiscal policy, and it just makes good business sense with a projected economic impact statewide totaling 51,000 new jobs and $9.4 billion in economic output annually. Uninsured Georgia citizens receiving uncompensated care cost all of us, creating financial stressors for families, taxing our healthcare resources, straining our rural hospitals, reducing business and workforce productivity, and driving up healthcare premiums across the board. #BRIDGEga #CloseTheGap

As we honor and thank our more than 15.8 million veterans this Veteran's Day, we want to remind Georgians that we have nearly 70,000 Georgia veterans who are uninsured. That rate is almost 20% above the national average. Learn more below from A New Veteran's Co-Founder and Executive Director, Andrew Davenport about the healthcare challenges our veterans face and how we can help close the healthcare coverage gap for our veterans. *Op-ed originally published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on August 9, 2024.

For over 25 years, Thelma Johnson has led?Albany Community Together, an organization aimed at helping small businesses and entrepreneurs access affordable capital and build thriving businesses. Increasingly, she sees access to affordable healthcare as a barrier to small business success, as many business owners find themselves and their families falling into the coverage gap—earning too much income to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private health insurance. Closing the coverage gap would secure health care coverage for tens of thousands of?small business owners and their employees, who may be just one illness away from financial ruin and business closure. And helping Georgia's small business owners will ultimately strengthen the health, economy, and social wellbeing of our state. Read more from Thelma Johnson in Georgia CEO:?https://bit.ly/4elPJHN