NCoC’s Pandemic to Prosperity team has been hard at work focusing on the South as the region to lead the way in pandemic recovery. Today, we’re excited to release our third edition of Pandemic to Prosperity: South in partnership with Fair Count and Southern Economic Advancement Project.
In previous reports, our team has found that the South needs a surge of support in order to beat the Covid-19 pandemic and create the foundation for equitable recovery.
This edition continues to highlight crucial data, but discussion also demonstrates ways for Southern communities to influence part of the needed surge that is already on its way: $350 billion in federal funding on its way to states and localities as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan proposed by President Biden and passed by Congress. Other key findings in the report:
- More than 1 in 10 Southern adults had trouble putting food on the table in June. AL, GA, LA, and MS had the highest rates of food insecurity in the nation, yet their states cut unemployment benefits on July 3rd.
- Although jobs are increasing, unemployment remains high at 5.9%. But 9 Southern states will cut the $300/wk federal unemployment benefit by August 3rd—ostensibly to encourage people to return to work.
- Every legislative seat in the U.S. must be drawn using 2020 Census data, which was delayed by COVID and is now due by August 16.
- State deadlines vary in the amount of time they have to redraw maps before their own deadlines, with southern states ranging from 4-11 months to redraw Congressional maps.
Download the full report here.
On Wednesday, July 28th at 12pm ET, we invite you to join NCoC and our partners for a briefing on the latest report – with an introduction from Clarence Wardell of the White House Domestic Policy Council on using data to build back with equity. Register here to join us for this briefing.