SHECP Talks: Expertise in the Field with Lelaine Bigelow, Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality
- SHECP
- Nov 7
- 2 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Earlier this year, the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality published an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey, that illustrated how the new work requirements in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) are poised to have a disproportionate effect on women, and, therefore, have possible long-term health, education, and future earnings impacts for children in those impacted households.
In October, Lelaine Bigelow, Executive Director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, joined Jeremy Everett, Executive Director of the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, for a live episode of SHECP Talks. In addition to discussing GCPI’s recent analysis publication, they touched on Bigelow’s career journey and her motivations for this work, as well as her vision for GCPI’s role in reducing poverty and inequality. In closing, Bigelow reminded us that no matter how we are involved in this work - as researchers, teachers, students, practitioners - success hinges on our ability to “listen first and connect as humans.”
Some of the findings from the GCPI analysis:
Of the 15 million women (ages 19-64) who participated in Medicaid in 2023, about 6 million (42 percent) would be subject to a new OBBBA work requirement.
“Millions of working women, mothers, single moms, and grandmothers are at risk of losing access to food assistance and health coverage — not because they don’t work hard enough, but because of rigid rules that ignore the realities of women’s lives.”
“Evidence from states that experimented with adding work requirements to Medicaid and SNAP in the past shows that many of the people who will end up losing benefits will be people who are working but are unable to meet the burdensome paperwork requirements.”
Thank you to Dr. Jeremy Everett and the team at the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty for helping to host this event.
Looking for ways to listen the SHECP Talks podcast? You can listen to all episodes and find links to additional resources here on the SHECP site. You can also search for "SHECP Talks" on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player.