Dec 18, 2020 | Blog, Public Policy
By Janie Ginocchio In April 2019, we announced that Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed Act 774 of 2019, which required two direct deposit lines on the state income tax form so you could split your state refund into two bank accounts. This year, we facilitated the passage...
May 6, 2020 | Blog, Public Policy
By Janie Ginocchio You might be thinking, “I only know one person named ALICE and she’s my 86-year-old great aunt.” That’s surely true, but what’s true, too, is that ALICE is your waitress at your favorite diner, the lovely people who help you get your groceries to...
Apr 24, 2020 | Public Policy
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of blog posts to critically examine how poverty is defined, measured, and talked about, and how those conversations influence public policy. The economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought how the U.S....
Oct 18, 2019 | Public Policy
By Kathryn Hazelett Editor’s note: This is one in a series of blog posts to critically examine how poverty is defined, measured, and talked about, and how those conversations influence public policy. Now that we’ve explored the ins and outs of how we define and...
Oct 4, 2019 | Public Policy
By Kathryn Hazelett Editor’s note: This is part of a series of blog posts to critically examine how poverty is defined, measured, and talked about, and how those conversations influence public policy. Mollie Orshansky figured out “how” we measure poverty. Her method...
Sep 6, 2019 | News, Public Policy
By Kathryn Hazelett Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of blog posts to critically examine how poverty is defined, measured, and talked about, and how those conversations influence public policy. I know, I know. We’ve been talking about poverty. Why are we...
Aug 30, 2019 | Blog, Public Policy
By Kathryn Hazelett Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of blog posts to critically examine how poverty is defined, measured, and talked about, and how those conversations influence public policy. Last week, we started our series on poverty with a discussion...
Aug 23, 2019 | Blog, Public Policy
By Kathryn Hazelett Nearly 225,000 families live below the poverty line in Arkansas and Mississippi.[1] While we hear and talk about poverty a lot, we’re not always talking the same language. This is the first post in a series looking at how we define poverty, how we...
Jul 18, 2019 | Blog, Public Policy
By Janie Ginocchio As discussed in previous blog posts, income tax time is a good opportunity to encourage people to save, as tax refund checks are often the largest lump sum payment a household will receive all year. Southern Bancorp encourages savings at tax...
Jul 2, 2019 | Blog, Public Policy
By Kathryn Hazelett Every 10 years, the United States counts its people – all of them. This is the census and it’s happening again in 2020. There is an entire government entity centered on the census – it’s that important. The census looks not only at the number of...
