overturned nearly three years ago, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion. The consequences of lost access to this essential care have been devastating. States with abortion restrictions tend to have the stingiest public benefits supports for growing families. This map shows that 10 of the 12 states with the stingiest TANF cash benefits also have the harshest abortion restrictions.
Parent PLUS, the only federal financial aid option designed for parents in the United States, can open doors to higher education. But for parents with low incomes and parents of color, Parent PLUS imposes serious risks—including crushing, unrepayable debt that can put rent, groceries, and retirement in jeopardy. This blog post outlines four policy recommendations to protect Parent PLUS borrowers, prioritize racial equity, and mitigate harm. Policymakers must act to make sure college is a pathway to opportunity—not an intergenerational financial nightmare.
Led by Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Congresswoman Stephanie Bice (R-OK), the House Bipartisan Paid Family Leave Working Group’s I-PLAN proposal is a promising step. The proposal recognizes the importance of investing in state paid leave programs. Strengthening these programs is a crucial step toward building systems that provide meaningful support for working people and their families.
Sixty years ago, our nation started something bold, but it remains unfinished. We should recommit to the bold vision of the war on poverty by learning from our successes and mistakes. Women should be the center of a new national poverty agenda. When policies support women, they support everyone, and together, we can build a country where every individual has the freedom to reach their full potential—and flourish.
The Supreme Court decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson effectively criminalizes homelessness. This decision is a cruel, counterproductive move that punishes people for experiencing poverty.
Administrative data can supplement census data and improve the accuracy and quality of the census. However, poorly designed administrative data projects may inadvertently exacerbate existing disparities that stem from census undercounts, including among people of color and immigrants. This blog argues that administrative data linkage cannot advance equity without improved representation of historically undercounted communities in both census data and administrative data.
The 2020 Census was the first census to incorporate administrative data as a cornerstone of its design to improve survey quality, reduce costs, and lower burdens for everyone responding to the census. To acquire administrative data, the Census Bureau enters into data sharing agreements with government agencies and commercial entities. However, the terms and details of these data sharing agreements are typically inaccessible to the public. This blog highlights the advantages and potential risks of data sharing and underscores the need for increased transparency in data sharing agreements.
Subsidized employment programs are engines for economic opportunity, stronger labor markets, and healthier communities. This blog highlights select evidence demonstrating that subsidized employment is good for workers and employers and can help create a strong, inclusive economy.
Millions of people living in the U.S. territories—including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—are often excluded from federal statistical data collection. This contributes to a significant racial justice issue. Without comprehensive data, policymakers and researchers cannot fully understand the socio-economic challenges faced by all U.S. residents, including people living in the territories, who are disproportionately people of color. This blog—originally published by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights—highlights the disparities in data collection between the U.S. territories and the rest of the U.S., the need for collecting high-quality data in U.S. territories, and the negative implications of analyzing an incomplete portrait of the nation.
The latest debt ceiling agreement threatens to take away food and cash assistance from people with low incomes—especially older women—if they cannot meet harsh work reporting requirements. The latest bill would add another hurdle to accessing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for older Americans ages 50-54 and doubles down on existing SNAP time limits for childless adults under 50 and existing work requirements in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.