Know the Issues: The YWCA's 2016 Policy Agenda

Throughout the year, we convened the Women and Girls’ Policy Stakeholder Roundtable, where more than 30 representatives of key statewide advocacy organizations gathered to develop a multi-issue policy agenda with proactive policy solutions to improve the lives of women and their families in Georgia.Learn more about our policy priorities for this 2016 Georgia General Assembly Session. Working in collaboration with these partners for the upcoming 2016 Georgia legislative session, we will advocate to improve the health and safety and advance the economic empowerment of women and girls in our state through:

• A statewide audit of rape kits and new requirements for submitting kits for testing (HB 827, Rep. Holcomb, 81st), with the goal of creating clear, enforceable, statewide protocol for storing and testing of rape kits.
• Pro-family, poverty-fighting tax reform, including the creation of a state Earned Income Tax Credit, to help remove barriers to self-sufficiency including housing, transportation, and child care for low-income working women.
• The Family Care Act (SB 242, Sen. Williams, 27th), which enables working women, who most often serve as primary caregivers, to use their already-earned sick days to care for their sick children, spouses, or elderly parents.
• The Strong Families Resolution(HR 746, Rep. Randall, 142nd), which calls for effective state legislation to address the challenges that Georgia families face, including improving maternal health; closing the coverage gap; minimizing disparities that women of color face in health and economic outcomes; and eliminating barriers to workforce participation.
• Expanded access to quality, affordable early learning and child care for working mothers, by increasing state funding for child care assistance for low-income parents through Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services Program.
• Policy solutions to address the issues identified in the state’s recently-released maternal mortality review committee report, with a focus on identifying risk factors, funding prevention efforts for high-risk populations and requiring more accurate data reporting.
• The establishment of a dedicated fund to provide needed refuge, treatment and care for children who are sexually exploited or trafficked in our state, through a constitutional amendment to be ratified by voters in the November election.

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