Within the first minute and a half of his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama called out the need for criminal justice reform. And with good reason. Nearly 1 in 100 American adults is incarcerated. America’s prison population has increased by 500 percent over the past…
Archives: Voices
What’s Happening to Failing White Men: Ten Numbers that Explain the Roots of White Male Rage
Amid all the largely disconnected discussions about angry white males, stagnant wages and inequality, fatherless families, and polarized politics, several striking linkages among these issues have largely gone unnoticed. Tens of millions of white men have been expelled or checked out from mainstream American life – a reality with profound…
President Obama’s Final State of the Union: What to Watch For and How You Can Participate
Tuesday night will see President Obama delivering his seventh – and final – State of the Union address. By most accounts, the President will both reflect on the past – highlight some of his Administration’s accomplishments – and look ahead to the future. With only one year remaining in office,…
Talking Poverty with GOP Candidates at the Kemp Forum Tomorrow
As you hopefully saw in our earlier blog post and Fact of the Week, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) is moderating a forum on “Expanding Opportunity” tomorrow (Saturday, January 9) in which at least seven of the Republican presidential candidates will take part. We’ll be taking part via social media,…
Fact of the Week: If Income Gains Had Been Broadly Shared – and not Concentrated in the Hands of the Richest 1 Percent – Poverty in America Could Have Been Eliminated by 1985
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) is interested in reducing poverty, and is moderating a forum on “Expanding Opportunity” this Saturday (January 9) in South Carolina, in which at least seven of the Republican presidential candidates will take part. We await with interest their proposals to reduce poverty and expand opportunity….
GOP Candidates Take the Stage to Discuss Poverty, But Will They Walk the Talk?
2016 is finally here, which means the presidential election is now only 305 days away. Reducing poverty and expanding opportunity for all Americans should be a key issue during the campaign season. So you can bet we’ll be watching with interest this Saturday, January 9th, when at least seven Republican…
#StopGunViolence
A few weeks ago, my significant other and I were watching the HBO series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. One of the segments was on kids and guns. As you can see in this brief video, a 13-year-old actor (being driven around by his mom, since he’s not old enough…
Fact of the Week: Child Care Costs as Much as 85 Percent of Income for a Family at the Poverty Level
We all know raising a child isn’t cheap. But for families living at the poverty level, the rising cost of child care is even more difficult to afford. The cost of center-based child care for an infant ranges from 24 percent of income for a family of three living at…
$2 a Day: The Cost of a Fractured Community
Later today, it will be my honor to moderate a webinar to discuss an important book, $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. The authors, Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, will talk about their powerful book, which portrays the lives of a number of families who have struggled…
Human Needs Report: What’s in the Omnibus, Tax Credits Made Permanent, the ACA, and Other Items Congress Did and Didn’t Do Before Heading Home
CHN just released our latest edition of the Human Needs Report, our regular newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. This edition includes articles on the omnibus spending package, low-income tax credits, the Affordable Care Act and other items Congress did – and didn’t do – before heading home for…
Good News in the FY 2016 Omnibus and Tax Cut Bills
There is important good news for low-income people in the FY 2016 omnibus appropriations bill and tax cut package heading for votes in Congress in the next few days. Perhaps most important, improvements that allow tax credits for working families and college students to reach more poor and near-poor people were…
Webinar: $2 a Day – Living on Almost Nothing in America
Join us for a free webinar with the authors of the book $2 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, in conversation with people who have been so deeply poor. Tuesday, December 22, 2015, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET This special webinar will feature authors Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, whose book $2…