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 es, and other programs, Arise has even paid some individuals’ routine bills. Arena used the example of an auto-insurance bill: an overdue bill can lead to a ticket, impound, or court date, all of which can generate costs far above the original missed payment, or even the loss of a job. Suddenly a life spirals out of control over $100 or less.
“It can derail someone’s life in a way that policymakers can’t grasp,” she added, citing their inability on Capitol Hill to come up with further stimulus — as if a $1,200 check in the spring adequately covered eight months of hardship. “It’s not their life.”
Haghighat said her organiza- tion’s work has uncovered some of the cracks in public support sys- tems and how they impact not only employment, but food security,
“Now that schools are closed, can you get to your job? Am I going
to lose my livelihood because of these economic conditions, or literally lose my life by going to work? People are stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
public health, and any number of other factors the pandemic has only exacerbated.
“It’s easy to say, ‘oh, it’s just an employment issue or a social-ser- vices issue.’ It’s more complex than that.”
Then there’s the broad issue known as the ‘digital divide,’ or the inability of many people to access the technology needed to func- tion in today’s economy — an issue that’s come down hard on women since they’ve experienced more disruption.
Tantillo recalled that, as soon as Gov. Charlie Baker announced the shutdown in mid-March, “we picked up the phone and called our partici- pants and found a lot of them had issues they didn’t have before. And one thing that came up was connec- tivity and being able to access and utilize the internet.”
Identifying digital equity as con- nectivity, access to equipment, and the knowledge and ability to use software, Dress for Success enlisted a group of volunteers to form a digi- tal task force, providing one-on-one coaching for 25 women, 13 of whom
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