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Demos is proud to announce the hire of Tori O’Neal McElrath as the Vice President of External Affairs and Lenore Palladino’s new role as a Demos economic fellow.

McElrath is Demos’ first Vice President of External Affairs and will oversee the communications and development teams. In this new role, McElrath will focus on expanding Demos’ reach and impact through strategic communications and donor cultivation.

“Tori is a phenomenal leader who has devoted her career to strengthening and shaping the progressive movement.”

 Adam Lioz, Demos Counsel and Senior Advisor, Policy & Outreach, issued the following statement in response to Governor O'Malley's plan to address the role of big money in politics:

"...a complete plan must go further, especially by acknowledging that our problems go well beyond Citizens United..."

The demonized banking industry must make the case it is morally noble. That may jar some ears, but surely enabling retirees to earn a return on their savings and funding business expansion creating jobs and wealth, improving Americans’ quality of and opportunities in life is morally noble. — Eric Glover, the Washington Times, September 24, 2015

The hyperactivity of the presidential election has raised the level of discussion of financial regulation, at least in terms of noise if not enlightenment. Mr.

Americans who vote are different from those who don’t. Voters are older, richer, and whiter than nonvoters, in part because Americans lack a constitutional right to vote and the various restrictions on voting tend to disproportionately impact the less privileged. In 2014, turnout among those ages 18 to 24 with family incomes below $30,000 was 13 percent. Turnout among those older than 65 and making more than $150,000 was 73 percent.

The key to changing public policy in key areas is increasing the number of people who vote, according to a recent report by Demos, a public policy group that supports economic and social equality.

When compared to White voters, non-White voters were more likely to support policies that increased government spending on the poor, guaranteed jobs and a standard of living and reduced inequality.

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“Because of the growth of the prison industry, you’re having these artificial shifts that empower the rural communities but take power away from the urban communities,” Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, told me.

That is wrong.

In 2012, Demos — a public policy organization that battles inequality in the U.S. — submitted testimony to the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations urging it to find a solution to “prison-based gerrymandering.”

Voter registration has been making headlines quite a bit this month. 

The significance of National Voter Registration Day has never been clearer to me than when I found myself in Tulsa, fighting for the voting rights of Oklahomans.

Demos, a public policy organization, published a report that demonstrated if the rate of homeownership by people of color would increase, the racial wealth gap would substantially reduce the racial wealth gap. “Black and Latino homeowners saw less return in wealth on their investment in homeownership: for every $1 in wealth that accrues to median Black households as a result of homeownership, median white households accrue $1.34,” states the report.