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ABC INITIATIVES
Asset Building Advocacy
Asset poverty is a community-level issue that requires a coordinated, community-level response.
Advocacy is coordinated public support for specific issues affecting our community.
Our Coalition’s advocacy work includes a collection of efforts and strategies that we pursue, together, to address the underlying root causes of Asset Poverty in Forsyth County. This work involves building public will to influence policy and funding decisions at the local, state, or even national levels.
Our Advocacy Committee began work in 2019 by meeting with leaders of organizations (whose work connects them with Asset Poverty) from across North Carolina to understand their advocacy platforms, how they approach the work, the adaptive challenges they’ve faced, and how they facilitate and communicate with community stakeholders.
The Advocacy Committee of the ABC is tasked with engaging the community to move our advocacy agenda forward.
Advocacy Committee Meetings
First Friday of the month from 9-10 am
Committee Members
- Committee Chair: Charlie Gardner, Winston-Salem Foundation
- Monica Brown, Atrium Health
- Margaret Elliott, Crisis Control Ministry
- Adam Hill, Forsyth Futures
- Amy Lytle, HandsOn NWNC
- Paula McCoy, Partnership for Prosperity
- Briley Penner, Swim Smart NC
- Christa Smith, Forsyth County DSS
- Luna Williams, Financial Pathways
- Tyler Sparks, Forsyth Futures
Contact Us
The 2021 Advocacy Agenda
Below, we outline strategies and opportunities for advocacy at the grassroots, state, and national levels. It focuses on specific actions that stakeholders of all types can take to begin to shift policies and priorities toward systemic solutions for asset poverty.
Advocacy Tier: Catalyst
Catalyst is our highest advocacy tier. For issues designated at this level, the Asset Building Coalition takes the lead as a local champion.
Mitigating The Benefits Cliff in Forsyth County
The Benefits Cliff describes a situation in which a person who receives public benefits gets a pay raise and, as a result of that pay raise, they experience a net decrease in overall income because of the way that benefits programs are designed. This flaw in the design of our benefit programs has created a complex series of disincentives that keep people who recieve public benefits from getting ahead financially.
If you are new to the Benefits Cliff conversation and want to get up to speed, we recommend starting with the Benefits Cliff Initiative page, which explains this complex issue. Below, you will find information on specific public benefits, as well as key information about relevant policies and key strategies for advocacy.
Index of Public Benefits
This simple guide lists and explains the different public benefits that are involved in the Benefits Cliff conversation.
The Benefits Cliff in Forsyth County: a Core Initiative of the Asset Building Coalition
Benefits Cliff in Forsyth County Microsite
This is an educational microsite built by Forsyth Futures, designed to inform local stakeholders on the conditions around this complex issue.
Local Social Benefits Calculator
The Center for the Study of Economic Mobility (CSEM) at Winston-Salem State University, in partnership with Forsyth Futures, created a digital calcultor to help individuals, families, and employers better understand the impact of potential pay raises.
Advocacy Tier: Participant
For issues designated to the participant tier, the ABC will join with other partners as an active member to develop strategies to influence policy.
Food and Nutrition Services
Food and Nutrition Services (FNS), previously known as food stamps and federally referred to as SNAP, provides low-income families with cash assistance for food. Families receive an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Card that is pre-loaded monthly with their benefit amount. They can then use this card at grocery stores to buy food.
Work First Cash Assistance
North Carolina’s Work First Cash Assistance Program, called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) federally, provides cash assistance and job training to low income families.
Housing Choice Voucher
The Housing Choice Voucher program, often referred to as Section 8 vouchers, is administered by the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem and provides rent subsidies to low-income households. Families can choose any housing in the private market, assuming the owner agrees to rent under the program. In general, families must pay 10% of their gross income or 30% of their adjusted gross income in rent and the housing voucher covers the rest.
North Carolina Child Care Subsidy
The North Carolina Child Care Subsidy Program provides subsidized child care to families using state and federal funds. Most families pay 10% of their gross income in child care costs and the subsidy program covers the rest, up to a given maximum.
For a 0-5 year old to initially qualify for subsidies, a household’s income must fall under 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or $4,100 for a family of four. If a household’s income rises above this level, but still falls under 85% of the state median income ($5,435 for a family of four), the children can continue receiving subsidies for an additional year.
Smart Start
Smart Start child care scholarships are managed by Smart Start of Forsyth County and mirror NC child care subsidies. They are scholarships that help pay for child care and are available to children 0-5. Guardians must generally pay a copay equaling 10% of household income. Like NC child care subsidies, the initial eligibility threshold is 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
WIC is formally called the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. It provides food for women, infants, and children under five through an electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card that can be used at grocery stores. WIC participants also receive coupons for use at farmers’ markets.
Medicaid for Families with Dependent Children (MAF)
Full Medicaid coverage for parents, caretakers relatives, and spouses who are caring for a related child under 18 in their household. The family must be very low income. For example, the monthly income of a family of four cannot exceed $744.
Medicaid for Infants and Children (MIF)
Full Medicaid coverage for children 18 and under living in low-income households. Children under 6 receive coverage when their family income is less than 210% of the federal poverty level, while children 6 to 18 gain coverage when their family income is less than 133% of the federal poverty level.
NC Health Choice
Limited Medicaid coverage for children 6 to 18 who live with families earning too much to qualify for Medicaid for Infants and Children. Family income must fall under 210% of the federal poverty level to qualify for NC Health Choice. The reason that only children 6 to 18 qualify for the program is because children 1 to 5 will qualify for Medicaid for Infants and Children. This is because Medicaid for Infants Children and NC Health Choice have the same income threshold for children 1 to 5, and children eligible for both must elect Medicaid for Infants and Children.
Families with incomes between 100% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines may also qualify for health insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA tax credits help mitigate the cost of health insurance purchased on the ACA marketplace. Our simulator does not account for ACA tax credits, but their availability could turn the Medicaid / NC Health Choice cliff into a slope for some.
Last Updated:
July 29, 2021
Reform of municipal fines and fees
North Carolina General Statute § 20-24.1 dictates that the Department of Motor Vehicles must revoke the driver’s license of a person charged with a motor vehicle offense who failed to appear in court or failed to pay a fine, penalty, or court cost ordered by the court.
Statewide, of the 1.3 million people who had their driver’s license suspended in the state, 21 percent are for failing to pay traffic fines or court fees while 66 percent are for failure to appear in court.
More specifically, approximately 9,693 drivers out of 284,922 Forsyth County residents of driving age have a suspended license for unpaid traffic court fines and fees. Although many driver’s license suspensions in North Carolina are denoted as a failure to appear (FTA), less is known about the causes of FTAs. While some individuals avoid court for problematic reasons, such as willful avoidance of court obligations, there are also potential financial and indigency-related causes for failing to appear. For example, someone who cannot afford to take a day off work lest they lose their job or who cannot afford childcare may not appear.
The Forsyth County DRIVE Program provides an avenue through which Forsyth County Residents burdened by economic hardship may engage with the court system to have their driver’s license restored.
Watch Now: DRIVE Program Interview on Facebook Live
Advocacy Tier: Signatory
For issues designated to the signatory tier, the ABC may take a public position to support or oppose policy in this area, lending our name to an effort:
State Earned Income Tax Credit
The North Carolina state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) reduces tax liability for low-income earners and some middle-income families. North Carolina eliminated the state EITC in 2014 and at that time was the only state to eliminate the credit in nearly 30 years. Nearly one million families claimed the credit each year when it was in place. Reinstating the credit would support low-income earners across the state and advocacy would take place at the state level.
Student Loan Debt
While pursuing higher education is still a pathway to higher incomes over a person’s lifetime, student loan debt threatens to undermine this promise in North Carolina and nationwide. Outstanding student loan amounts have risen at an alarming rate over the past decade, and North Carolina has not been immune from this trend. Today, students and their families face a difficult decision: take on substantial debt to fill the gap between ballooning college costs and reduced grant support or forgo a college education in the face of a labor market that increasingly demands credentials and degrees. The impact of this choice is particularly severe for some populations: communities of color, rural and low-income communities, veterans and servicemembers, women, and older Americans.
Learn more about the student loan debt crisis in North Carolina.
North Carolina’s Student Debt, Dimensions of a Crisis. Center for Responsible Lending, 2019.
- NC Consumers with Student Loan Debt 20.9%
- NC Borrowers of Color with Student Loans in Collections 18%
- NC White Borrowers with Student Loans in Collections 11%
Average Federal Student Loan Debt for NC Graduates, 2017
Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina
North Carolina is one of 12 states that has not yet expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If Medicaid is expanded in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration estimates that 624,000 residents would become newly eligible for coverage. A significant number of them (estimates range from 215,000 to nearly half a million) are currently in the coverage gap, with no realistic access to health insurance at all, unless Medicaid is expanded.
Key Takeaways:
- North Carolina again failed to expand Medicaid in 2020.
- North Carolina’s Medicaid program is transitioning to a managed care model in 2021 after several delays.
- Governor Cooper has long pushed for Medicaid expansion, but GOP lawmakers oppose expansion.
Learn more about NC and the ACA's Medicaid Expansion.
Closing the “Coverage Gap” would help people across North Carolina and in Forsyth County gain access to coverage.
Approximately 25,480 people in Forsyth County would gain access to coverage if we close the coverage gap.
People in the “coverage gap” make too much to qualify for Medicaid but do not earn enough to qualify for a subsidy in the private marketplace. Closing the health insurance coverage gap would provide affordable health coverage to thousands of people in Forsyth County that cannot get the health care they need. Learn more about the coverage gap in Forsyth County.
Last Updated:
July 29, 2021
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