There are specific reforms that could help black families. Standardizing same-day voter registration across states would benefit communities of color, which face disproportionate barriers to civic participation.
Washington, D.C.-- Today’s 5-0 vote by the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety to advance the Fair Elections Act of 2017 (B22-0192) to the full Council for consideration is a major step forward for the campaign, supporters said today. They called on the Council to immediately schedule a vote to pass the legislation.
Councilmembers Charles Allen, David Grosso, Anita Bonds, Mary M. Cheh, and Vincent C. Gray voted unanimously in favor of the legislation, which passed without amendment.
For several years, Demos and our partners have been working to fulfill our Constitution’s democratic promise by forging a new legal order that is open to money-in-politics reforms, and marshalling the factual and legal arguments that could help the Court move in this direction.
Last year, Americans took over 10 billion trips on public transportation. These were trips to work, to school, to stores, to health care, to places of worship, and elsewhere. For millions of Americans, their quality of life rests on the quality of public transit.
This report presents findings on the use of public transit by people of color and on the potential jobs benefits that people of color can gain from investments in public transit.
A 2013 survey by Demos, a public policy organization that combats inequality, showed that 10 percent of respondents who were unemployed had been informed that they would not be hired because of some facet of their credit history. The same survey indicated that 1 out of every 7 job applicants with “blemished credit histories” had been told they were not hired because of their credit history. [...]
Simply put, black families in the District overall have less wealth and income than white families — and therefore have less ability to give to political candidates. This helps explain why black D.C. residents are underrepresented year after year in political donations.
Studies have shown that policy most reflects the preferences of the most wealthy members of society and that those preferences do not reflect the greater public opinion on issues including the economy.
Chicago, IL – Today, Heather McGhee, president of Demos, spoke during the Opening Session of the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, a gathering of civic leaders in Chicago. The following are her remarks, as prepared for delivery.
The economy is not the weather. Economic news may come to us like a weather report—the stock market going up or down like the temperature—but it’s not actually unseen natural forces that dictate the way the wind will blow economically.
With only the wealthy funding and communicating with the campaigns of elected officials, politicians are incentivized to make policy decisions that align with their donors’ interests, not those of their broader constituency. But the elite donor class holds views that don’t align with the general public’s, as a 2016 Demos study detailed.
The Congressional Black Caucus budget should be implemented because it calls for racial equity in future infrastructure and investments; improving public transit infrastructure, noting that people of color are heavy users of it; and school infrastructure, saying that modernized buildings held reduce achievements gaps.
NEW YORK, NY – In response to the “Better Deal” proposal that Congressional Democrats laid out today, Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research at Demos, released the following statement:
Without the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, lenders preying on communities of color would continue to pull in windfall gains, while widening the racial wealth gap and undermining the precarious financial stability of vulnerable households.
July 21, 2017 (New York, NY) – In honor of the sixth anniversary of the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Tamara Draut, Vice President of Policy and Research, issued the following statement.
Data show pocketbook issues including minimum wage, debt-free college and infrastructure are top priorities for likely voters
Today, Demos, a leading progressive think tank released new polling data that identifies the economic priorities of progressives, working-class people of color, and working-class white Obama to Trump voters. The polling sheds light on the shared top priorities for these voters including revitalizing infrastructure, raising the minimum wage and debt-free college.