Step Up Savannah gets additional funding to work with local businesses and government employers to improve work supports for low-wage workers. Families and Work Institute awards Savannah a second grant as part of its "Supporting Work Project"

Step Up Savannah, Inc. was notified this week it has been awarded a grant to move forward in its work with local employers to increase the number of low-wage employees enrolled in publicly funded work supports.

The Supporting Work Project, under the direction of Dale Carlson-Bebout in 2007-08, worked with the Hyatt, IKEA, Dollar Tree, St. Joseph's/Candler, Memorial Health, City of Savannah, Chatham County, The Mansion, Westin, and Goodwill Industries. She conducted almost 800 benefits screenings at these companies to assess employees' eligibility for PeachCare, the children's health insurance program, food stamps, and the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, among other benefits.

Carlson-Bebout said that 67 percent of employees surveyed at these locations reported they did not have enough money at the end of the month to make ends meet—or had just enough money—despite working full time.

Employees surveyed also reported that inadequate transportation and childcare are the top reasons they have to miss work from time to time.

At the same time, local employers raised transportation and childcare as the top challenges to retaining frontline workers. Further, the employers reported they were unaware that their workers ran out of food regularly or had to make choices between eating regular meals and paying bills.

The Families and Work Institute, with funding from the Ford Foundation, is supporting phase two of the "Supporting Work Project" for the next 15 months. In this next phase, Step Up will focus on longer term changes, such as partnering with social service agencies to simply procedures to apply for benefits, and advocating for pre-tax bus passes.

Step Up received $140,000 for phase one of the Supporting Work Project, one of 10 organizations in as many cities. It will be awarded $115,000 for this next phase.

The Families and Work Institute is a nonprofit center for research on the changing workforce, changing family and changing community. Its Supporting Work Project is enabling business and governmental leaders to establish partnerships within communities to increase the number of employers that help their lower-wage employees access publicly funded work supports. These work supports can increase the spending power of workers and enable them to better support their families.

For more information about the Work Supports Project, please contact Dale Carlson-Bebout at 656-3641, or via e-mail at dcbebout@stepupsavannah.o rg

For more information about Step Up Savannah, Inc., please contact Daniel Dodd, director, at 644-6420 or danieldodd@stepupsavannah. org.