STATEMENT: Economic Security Group Demos Launches Online News Journal Around the Kitchen Table

New York, NY — Today, Demos, a national, non-partisan public policy organization that studies economic security issues in the United States, announced the launch of the new Around the Kitchen Table online. Published at www.aroundthekitchentable.org, this monthly news journal offers commentary, analysis and fresh perspectives on how national economic trends in debt, assets, education and income play out around the kitchen tables of individuals and families in America.

Since it was first published in 2004, Around the Kitchen Table has become a resource for reformers, economists, journalists and policymakers who need timely analysis of economic trends in the U.S. The new Around the Kitchen Table format builds on a strong record of tracking a range of issues — homeownership and refinancing, banking and predatory lending, Social Security and retirement savings, credit card debt, employment trends, legislation, education and healthcare access, among others.

Around the Kitchen Table focuses on a different theme in each issue, highlighting new trends in debt, assets, education and income, so that editors at Demos can uncover economic conditions that might not be widely known, but should be seriously considered in our national policy dialogue. Themes covered include "demographic areas" in the U.S. — older Americans, women, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and young adults — as well as a regional focus — Southerners, Midwesterners, Texans, New Yorkers and others.

While exposing the reality of challenges to household fiscal security, Around the Kitchen Table always highlights new, innovative opportunities to create a robust economy that works for all. Whether offering real-world policy recommendations or opportunities to "start the discussion" at a local level, Around the Kitchen Table and its publishers at Demos are driven by the great promise of the United States--that hard work equals a secure future.

The February 2006 issue features a special report on Rural Americans, looking inside a vast region to report on 21st Century economic concerns, such as the "brain drain" and out-migration of educated young talent, healthcare access, Latino immigrants and migration to rural areas, education and school consolidation, advocates organizing in rural areas, plus a personal look at addressing poverty in rural America.

As always, Around the Kitchen Table also offers a monthly Debt Clock that measures each American household's share of the National Debt and National Consumer Debt-based on consumer credit information published every month by the Federal Reserve Board.

Your family's share of the U.S. National Debt in February: $110,012; of the Nation's Consumer Debt: $29,008.

Around the Kitchen Table attracts widely recognized experts in academic research, federal and state-based policy and grassroots advocacy campaigns. Among its contributors are: Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard University and author of The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke; Tom Shapiro, Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University and author of Black Wealth/White Wealth and The Hidden Cost of Being African American; Tamara Draut, Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos and author of Strapped: Why America's 20-and 30-Something's Can't Get Ahead; Gerardo Reyes Chavez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers; Beatriz Ibarra, Assets Policy Analyst at the National Council of La Raza; Abdi Soltani, Executive Director of the Campaign for College Opportunity; Theodore Cross, Editor and Publisher of The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education; Dr. Gail C. Christopher, Vice-President of the Office of Women, Health and Families at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; Sarah Ludwig, Executive Director at Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP); Deyanira Del Rio, Director of Programs at Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP); Zach Schiller, Research Director of Policy Matters Ohio; Andy Gussert, Director of the Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition; Ellen Schloemer, Director of Research at the Center for Responsible Lending; Elsie Meeks, First Nations OWEESTA Corporation; Jennifer Malkin, Corporation for Enterprise Development; Rebecca Adamson, First Nations Development Institute; Jonathon B. Taylor, Research Affiliate of The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Senior Policy Associate at the Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona; and Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Throughout 2006, Around the Kitchen Table will continue to expand its breadth and scope to address issues beyond the current economic reform landscape and offer new ideas for creating a just and inclusive economy in the United States.

To read the new Around the Kitchen Table or to sign-up for monthly updates, visit www.aroundthekitchentable.org.

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