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Amir Farokhi
City Councilmember | Atlanta, GA

Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund

Idea Category: Equity & Opportunity

Problem:

One of the clearest examples of systemic and structural prejudices has been the issue of pay inequity across the United States – despite being acknowledged and more openly discussed in recent decades, the legislative approach on how to address the issue itself has varied. Studies have shown that black women in Georgia make 63 cents on the dollar in comparison to white men, and are twice as likely to be below the poverty line as their white counterparts. Overall, black and brown communities in Georgia, which also tend to be lower-income, have endured lasting impacts from the 2008 recession and experienced the slowest recovery, and the lack of effective equal pay initiatives has kept the minority population from their full potential of economic growth.

Solution:

The GRO Fund aims to address the pay inequities amongst black women in Georgia by providing a guaranteed income of $850/month to those who qualify at or below the federal poverty line. The program, one of several developed by a task force coalition of 28 community members, elected officials, and policy advocates, is one proposed strategy to focus on the root causes of racial disparities and economic instability among minority communities in Georgia. With roughly $13 million to distribute, the GRO Fund is one of the largest guaranteed income pilot programs in the United States. Proponents of the initiative hope to expand beyond the initial batch of qualified applicants as 2022 progresses and potentially serve as a successful example for other local governments to model their own programs off of.