Georgia

When the pandemic struck in 2020, crippling businesses, upending public health response, and endangering families, Georgians across the state struggled to gain their footing. Until President Biden and Vice President Harris passed the American Rescue Plan, not only helping neighbors to survive, but creating new pathways to more prosperous futures.

In Georgia, where unemployment spiked and job creation halted in the darkest days of the pandemic, the impacts of the American Rescue Plan Act have been felt broadly as the Biden Administration’s comprehensive law saved the state. Using funding from ARPA, Georgia has created a record number of jobs since 2021, reaching the lowest average unemployment rate in the state on record. In turn, the state has been able to support a record 600,000 small businesses either recovering from the impacts of COVID-19 or embarking on new ventures in the immediate aftermath. With these investments, industries in towns across the state were able to maintain or expand their workforce even in the dimmest of times. 

Through such difficult times, the Biden Administration worked hard with state, local, and nonprofit partners to help Georgia workers. With funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, the state has expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit for 569,000 workers in Georgia to provide up to $1,500 in individual tax relief. On top of this, ARPA has saved over 700,000 Georgians hundreds every year on healthcare expenses and has made 87,000 payments to struggling renters to assist them with ongoing rent and utility payments. In Atlanta, the city has used federal funds to revitalize its public safety workforce, establishing subsidized housing for firefighters, police officers, and corrections officials near their stations and offices.

The American Rescue Plan Act allowed Georgia families and children to stay connected and cared for, too. Using federal funds, the state was able to keep the doors open of nearly 4,000 childcare centers, expanding quality, affordable care to 335,000 children. To keep school-aged children connected through the final days of virtual learning and the new era of hybrid classes, the Biden Administration provided the state with funds to build the infrastructure to connect 70,000 Georgia homes to high speed internet and supplied hundreds of thousands of students with electronic devices like laptops and tablets. The administration and the state put particular emphasis on connecting rural communities, partnering with local internet service providers and broadband co-ops to connect thousands of last mile communities with high speed internet. 

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act, Georgians have rebounded back better than ever in a post-pandemic world.