The where-are-the-good-jobs edition. The economy is growing in fits and starts. More than one million combined jobs were added during the months of March and April — although the April jobs report was nothing to write home about. But evidence is emerging that many of the jobs that are returning are not good jobs; they pay low wages, have few benefits, or fall short in other measures of job quality. That contradicts the narrative of governors in 12 states terminating federal unemployment benefits. These governors claim that the extra unemployment benefits, that may exceed wages in low-paying jobs, are discouraging workers from returning to work.

On April 28, President Biden announced his latest legislative proposal, The American Families Plan (AFP). It’s a bold and transformative effort to help the country recover from the coronavirus and recession. The AFP would target resources to many of those who need them most: people with low incomes, communities of color, and children who have been disproportionately harmed by the coronavirus, recession, and years of underinvestment. The plan would directly impact people with low incomes in many ways, here’s a summary of our top-10 provisions.

We at the Coalition on Human Needs advocate for ending poverty and alleviating social and economic hardship for people with low-incomes and other vulnerable populations through federal policies, but we know we can’t do it alone. That is why we are introducing our new project: the Voices for Human Needs Podcast. This podcast will serve as a go-to resource for both new and experienced activists in their journey fighting alongside organizers, communities, and policy advocates. 

On Saturday, voting  rights advocates will gather, in-person or online, in more than 100 communities throughout the country to mark the “National John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Action Day.” The actions could not be more timely. Across the country, state legislatures continue to advance barriers to voting, spurred in part by what many are calling the “Big Lie” — the oft-refuted notion that the November 2020 elections were replete with error and fraud.