New York – At a time when anti-government ideology is driving policy making in Washington, a refresher course on the concrete benefits and products of a robust public sector is needed. The programs, infrastructure, and services that have make America great are possible due to an often dreaded source: our taxes.
Washington DC – Today, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Rep. John Larson (D-CT), and actor Alec Baldwin unveiled the Fair Elections Now Act, a bill that would change for the better the way congressional candidates finance elections. Demos, a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization, wrote a letter to the Committee on the Judiciary in support of the legislation.
April 6, 2011 – Demos and the Prison Policy Initiative, two national pro-democracy groups, expressed serious objections today to a lawsuit filed in state court that seeks to reinstate the discredited policy of miscounting incarcerated New Yorkers when state and local legislative districts are redrawn this year.
A Hawaii Partnership Bank will generate new revenue for Hawaii, save local governments money, and make us less dependent on big offshore banks that are dramatically reshaping life for families and businesses in Hawaii.
NEW YORK--At five o'clock today I will be in City Hall Plaza in New York as part of the nationwide series of "We Are One" demonstrations sponsored by a broad coalition of organizations. Participants will be there to stand up on behalf of the workers in Wisconsin, collective bargaining, and on behalf of a country that cares about its entire people.
This report makes the case that we should create jobs for the unemployed directly and immediately in public employment programs that produce useful goods and services for the public’s benefit.
NEW YORK – As budget debates continue to play out at the state level, it is apparent that Americans everywhere are still suffering from the long-tail of the recession and need jobs, not austerity measures that will likely reverse emergent economic gains. A new report by the policy center Demos addresses this need head-on, calling for an affordable and efficient federal jobs program that could meet critical community and national needs while providing meaningful employment for millions of people who lost their jobs in the Great Recession.
On March 29th, 2011 Public Works hosted a webinar on ways to take advantage of tax season as an opportunity to communicate a different story about the role of taxes in our country. While it focuses on Tax Freedom Day, it includes universal examples for any situation. This guide provides strategies for creating a better conversation about taxes. It examines the most common anti-tax narratives, offer lessons on how to respond to hypothetical questions, and include tips on avoiding common communication pitfalls.
New York, NY — As new unemployment figures show a still-staggering 9 percent of Americans out of work, a new report from the policy center Demos examines the degree that low income American families use credit to weather economic shocks, and draws out the impact of credit card debt on families' long-term financial stability.
NEW YORK, NY – The idea of regulation — of using the institutions of government to set and enforce rules for the world of business — has come under fierce attack. This week, House committees will hold four separate hearings based on the premise that our nation’s economy is chafing under the restraint of excessive regulation and overly powerful regulators.
New York, NY--Today, Miles Rapoport, President of the national policy center Demos, issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address:
"In last night’s speech, President Barack Obama underscored two great challenges of our times: ensuring that economic stability and growth in a global economy is shared among average Americans, not just large corporations, and modernizing and empowering our government to work on behalf of the people.
ATLANTA, GA — Citing clear evidence that low-income Georgia residents are being denied a legally-mandated opportunity to register to vote, attorneys sent a pre-litigation notice letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp demanding that the Secretary immediately act to bring Georgia into compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) or face litigation.
Available financial aid covers only a fraction of what community college students pay for their education. To finance their studies, many of them enroll in school only part time and/or work more than 20 hours per week, strategies that increase their likelihood of dropping out. To help address this problem, this report highlights strategies adopted by higher education institutions to increase the financial resources of their students. The practices outlined either help students access existing financial aid or provide students with new types of aid.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – A coalition of voting rights groups scored a major victory yesterday in their lawsuit against New Mexico’s Human Services Division (HSD) and Secretary of State Mary Herrera, with a ruling by a U.S. District Judge that the State of New Mexico is in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).