Martha O’ Bryan Center Launches National Coalition to Address Upward Mobility of Families
May 21, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Derria Ford
Martha O Bryan Center
Martha O’ Bryan Center Launches National Coalition to Address Upward Mobility of Families Living with Low-Income Who Experience Benefits Loss
Nashville, May 21, 2024 – The Martha O’Bryan Center, with financial support from the Kresge Foundation, is announcing the launch of Beyond the Cliff. This Coalition is a first-of-its-kind national collaborative of nonprofits, state and local governments, and collaborative stakeholders focused on helping families achieve economic prosperity and specifically eliminating the benefits cliff. The benefits cliff describes the experience that millions of families living with low-income face when they increase earnings only to face an abrupt loss in public assistance which leaves them worse off financially.
Brittany Birken, Community and Economic Development Director and Principal Adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta*, studies the impact of benefit cliffs on individuals and communities and served in an advisory capacity in the formation of this collaborative. She said, “Bringing together these innovative efforts to address the benefits cliff has the potential to identify the solutions needed to increase family economic mobility, meet employers’ talent needs, and ensure that the economy is working for everyone.”
This Coalition builds on the work that Martha O’Bryan Center leads through the Tennessee Alliance for Economic Mobility (TAEM). TAEM is a public-private partnership comprised of 32 organizations that the Tennessee Opportunity Act funds. The Tennessee Opportunity Act Pilot Initiative funds seven nonprofits to implement innovative strategies for moving Tennessee families with economic, social, and developmental vulnerabilities beyond their current circumstances and onto self-sufficiency. With this funding, TAEM launched the Our ChanceTN pilot, working collaboratively to support 900 families in moving beyond the benefits cliff in Middle Tennessee.
In addition to the Tennessee Alliance for Economic Mobility, the inaugural members of the Coalition include:
- Circles Central Florida and Circles Salt Lake, local chapters of Circles USA
- Colorado Benefits Cliff Collaborative comprised of Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), CrossPurpose, Innovate+Educate, Spur LLC, and TorchTech
- District of Columbia Department of Human Services
- Episcopal Community Services of Philadelphia
- Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont
- Hennepin County Office of Workforce Development
- Onondaga County Department of Social Services – Economic Security
- Springfield WORKS/Western Mass Economic Development Council
- Vermont Department for Children and Families
- Workforce Development Council of Seattle King County and
- Additional partners to be announced at a later date.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath) will serve in an advisory capacity.
“At Martha O’Bryan, we seek solutions to the root causes of poverty. We are very excited about leading this coalition focused on eliminating the benefits cliff. As an antipoverty organization, we believe families can rise out of poverty in one generation. We recognize that has not been true in all places for all people. Solving this issue is an important step toward expanding the landscape of opportunity for all families,” Marsha Edwards CEO & President, Martha O Bryan Center.
About Martha O’Bryan Center
Martha O’Bryan Center is an anti-poverty nonprofit organization with a long history and deep community roots, founded in 1894. Our headquarter campus sits in the East Nashville public housing campus of Cayce Place, currently transforming into the mixed-income neighborhood Boscobel Heights. This is where we operate most of our programs, supporting education goals for learners of all ages, empowering youth and adults in their careers, and providing stability and support services for individuals and families. Martha O’Bryan Center also operates two public, K-8 charter schools in East Nashville, and is co-located with partner agencies in several other centers and public schools as well. These are the places in Nashville where we continue in service, partnering with families to open doors of hope and possibility, create a culture of attainment, and positively shape future generations.
* The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta does not provide grants or funding to the general public or to partner organizations. It does not endorse or make any representations as to the suitability of partner organizations or their programs and do not advise on distribution of funds by partners.
