Category: Barriers to Employment

October 15, 2019 Melissa Chadburn

Voices of Everyday Leaders

Power Concedes Nothing Without Demand This evening democratic candidates will gather at Otterbein University in Westerville, a suburb of Columbus, for the presidential primary debates. While they will be discussing […]

We’re Making Significant Steps Toward a New Federal Minimum Wage

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington

In my years participating in progressive movements, fighting “the good fight” alongside other visionary activists and progressives with very different personalities, different strategies, and different campaigning styles, I have noticed […]

Growing Up Poor in America Was My Political Education

Michael Jackson

I remember, as a ten-year-old, tearfully watching former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and presidential candidate Jesse Jackson give impassioned speeches at the 1984 Democratic National Convention on my family’s […]

Returning to Life Outside Prison—Without Food on the Table

Willie Francois

This piece was co-published with Civil Eats Calvin* anticipates walking out of a New Jersey prison next month, hopefully for the last time, eager to live out his responsibilities as […]

Universal pre-K won’t solve poverty. Better jobs will.

Wendi C. Thomas

Memphis council members promote politically safe investment in children while ignoring underpaid parents

Home Alone: A Single Mother Tries to Navigate Missoula’s Child Care Crisis

Stephanie Land

Photo Credits to Brian Hart. Originally published by the Missoula Independent. My life as a single mother has often meant looking up, helpless, waving goodbye like Wile E. Coyote, after […]

Domestic Violence is Trapping Women in More Than Just Bad Relationships

Stephanie Land

Originally published on SheKnows. There are moments in my life that I can return to easily. I don’t have to close my eyes or envision the surroundings or what it […]

Black Lives Matter Movement and Opportunities Deprived Go Hand In Hand

Fred McKissack Jr.

Originally published on Equal Voice. What does it say about the value of Black lives when too many of those lives are in crumbling schools, drinking poisoned water, finding themselves […]

Formerly Incarcerated Leaders React to the Introduction of Ban the Box Legislation

Olivia Chow

Formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones welcomed today’s introduction of the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act of 2015 by Sens. Cory Booker and Ron Johnson, and Reps. […]

Three-Strikes and You’re In: The Unconstitutionality of the Three-Strikes Law

Angela Zhao

The Supreme Court has been cranking out hit after hit of rulings that show signs of our progress as a nation that views Americans as human beings: as ones who […]

Ban the Box

Tamika Middleton

This post was originally published on Creative Loafing Atlanta. Asking former prisons about past conviction history on job applications is a barrier to re-entry Every week, men and women who […]