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“In today’s decision, the court recognized that Spanish-speaking voters are not second-class citizens and should not have to wait for their voting rights to be fully protected.”

New Brief Shows Young Americans Need Wall Street Reform

Washington — Young Americans face "lasting damage" from the dual crises in the financial sector and in personal finance, making it urgent that Congress pass strong financial reform legislation.

There is an ideal pathway for knocking down a barrier that has kept so many voting-eligible citizens away from the polls: automatic voter registration.

“For democratic participation to have any meaning, voters must be able to exercise their right to vote in a language they understand.”

"The bill that the governor is expected to sign into law establishes blatant wealth discrimination in the restoration of rights process. The bill will create two classes of returning citizens… [and] under this bill your ability to pay will govern whether you can participate in democracy.”

Over nine out of 10 senior households of color do not have sufficient economic security to sustain themselves through their projected lives.

How and why the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 has played such a critical role in increasing access to voter registration.

Washington — Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has introduced a financial-reform amendment that finally addresses the root problem of the credit rating agencies—their built-in conflict of interest. The "Restore Integrity to Credit Ratings" amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Bill Nelson (D-FL), substantially embraces a remedy set forth in a recent Demos policy paper on this subject.

Cleveland — Ohio's young adults will continue to face a tough economy--one ravaged not only by recession but also by 30 years of declining opportunity and security for all but the most highly educated and affluent, according to a new report by Policy Matters Ohio and the national policy center Demos.

“If you compare this to some of the other gifts given in higher education, it’s incredibly stark, and I would hope points us to a smarter, better model of philanthropy where people’s lives are genuinely being transformed.”

“Your income or your family’s wealth is extremely predictive of whether you’re going to go college at all and certainly what program you’re going to do."

With the country’s total student loan debt amounting to about $1.5 trillion, borrowers lose an average of $208,000 in lifetime wealth accumulation that could have come from retirement savings, investments or home purchases, according to studies from Washington, D.C.-based think tank Demos. 

“Public policy created the racial economic gap and only public policy can solve it.”

“We are used to doing our homework and having to show up.”

Call out Wall Street for its Abuses and Army of Lobbyists Fighting to Block Needed Protections

“Not only are students of color more likely to borrow more for a degree, and borrow in higher amounts for the same degree, but they’re more likely to struggle to repay student loans than white students."

"State governments have disinvested from public colleges and universities for a few decades now, and we need to reverse those trends."