The Economic Democracy Project aims to highlight and develop strategies that Black and brown communities can use to build economic and political power—beginning with four case studies spotlighting community campaigns across the U.S.
"For the sake of millions — people watching their rents go up while their wages don’t, parents who need support in tackling the ever-rising cost of child care, and seniors who regularly must decide whether they can afford their bills or their pills — the Senate must pass this legislation.”
Policy choices have allowed big companies to continuously use their power to preserve economic and democratic imbalances that maintain their wealth and influence at the expense of everyone else.
Taifa Smith Butler, joins News NOW on Black Women’s Equal Pay Day to discuss why Black women in America have to work 579 days to earn what a white man does in one year and how companies can work to combat this pay disparity and inequality.
The For the People Act outlines a vision of what’s possible when our nation lives up to its promise of being a place where all people can lift their voices via their votes and their small dollar contributions.
“They collect our data without our permission. They profit from our data. They fail to invest in processes to verify accuracy. And their models are not transparent. This puts Black and Brown consumers at a serious disadvantage.”
The Biden administration should implement its public credit registry proposal to shift power away from an oligopoly that exercises inordinate control over consumers’ financial prospects and towards a fairer system that better respects consumers and reduces racial inequality.
If we are to survive this crisis—and imagine a more equitable, dynamic economy to come, we must start with a recommitment to the value of universal, inclusive public infrastructure.
"To say that people post-crisis, as they try to rebuild their lives, have to carry the impact of this is just another round of disadvantage and discrimination.”
The policy platform outlines actions that address environmental justice, just recovery from disasters, equity accounting in climate policy, and energy democracy.
Twelve years after starting college, white men have paid off 44% of their student loan balances on average, while black men saw their balances grow by 11%, according to an analysis from Demos.
Twelve years after starting college, the white female borrower has paid off 72% of her loan balance. Over the same time period, the typical Black female borrower's balance has grown by 13%.
“The potential for executive action to jumpstart the transition that we need — to reorient our democracy for democratic engagement and redress historic inequities — is huge.”
To fairly evaluate any higher education reform proposal, we must understand the ways that these dual burdens—less wealth and more debt—lead to worse outcomes for Black students than white students.
"I think Greta has been able to speak truth to power in a way that has resonated with a lot of young people who are frustrated, who have lived their whole lives seeing inaction on climate change."
While Demos celebrates the legislation’s strong mandate on emissions reductions, the governor’s exclusion of community investment mandates and labor standards prolongs the fight for climate justice in New York and nationwide.