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The increased economic anxiety among black and Hispanic workers is not surprising when considering the fact that working-class workers of color tend to be paid less on the job and, therefore, hold less wealth.

No-loan policies at selective institutions can be eye-catching for low-income students that may not have viewed those schools as a viable option said Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a left-leaning think tank. But they do little to increase equity in higher education because the group of low-income students educated at these schools is so small, he added.

Since Donald Trump took office, people who care about equity, opportunity, and infrastructure have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

New York, NY – On Monday, the U.S. Department of Labor released a proposed rule that would change regulations pertaining to the distribution of tips earned by restaurant workers. Demos’ Associate Director of Policy and Research Amy Traub released the following statement.

“The new rule proposed by the Department of Labor (DOL) would allow employers to legally pocket the tips earned by and meant for restaurant workers. This amounts to a backdoor legalization of wage theft.

Indeed, the U.S. racial wealth gap remains largely attributable to public policy decisions driven by resegregation. Demos, a progressive think tank, explains this gap as a product of “the continuing impact of redlining on American home ownership to the retreat from desegregation in public education.”

Katherine Culliton-González is senior counsel at Demos (the people), a New York-based nonpartisan, nonprofit voter-rights group active in litigating voting issues, including Pennsylvania’s voter ID law, ruled unconstitutional in 2014.

“Pennsylvania has a history.  And it continues to create barriers to the ballot,” she says, “from lack of language access to a lack of poll worker training, no early voting. It not only complicates voting but it sets up real barriers to voters.”

New York, NY – Today, the Republican-led U.S. Senate voted on strictly partisan lines to approve a new tax plan that will increase taxes on working- and middle-class Americans while lowering taxes on billionaires and wealthy corporations. In response, Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research at Demos released the following statement:

The tax debate undersells the impact of this current debate on working-class communities, and misses part of why the GOP tax plan is so radical.

The Republican tax plans proposed by the House and Senate uphold the status quo fossil fuel economy and threaten the health of communities.