If there’s one thing I could tell lawmakers, it would be to bring back the expanded, monthly, fully refundable Child Tax Credit. Lawmakers are now considering a more modest expansion. It doesn’t go far enough, but it could lift another 400,000 kids out of poverty — children like the ones I worked with.

The Affordable Connectivity Program edition. One of the 21st century’s many enduring racial and class barriers is the digital divide. As of 2021, Black and Latino adults were almost twice as likely as White adults to lack broadband access. For many, whether you have access to high-speed internet too often depends on the color of your skin or the zip code in which you live – both strongly correlated with poverty. 

On Monday, April 22, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which observers are calling the most important case in decades involving the rights of unhoused people. At issue: can cities, counties, and states punish people with fines or even jail time who sleep in public places when shelter beds or affordable housing are not available? Or does such action by governments constitute a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which bans cruel and unusual punishment? 

Imagine losing everything you had. Your stability, your privacy, and in many cases basic respect from others. In 2023, over 653,000 individuals (about half the population of Hawaii) in the U.S. experienced homelessness.