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A big picture view of the CBO’s minimum wage report
This week’s release of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the minimum wage has generated a good amount of discussion about the potential impacts of a minimum-wage hike. Not immediately apparent from these discussions – as this CEPR post points out – is the fact that, on the whole, the report shows that on […]
A faith perspective on North Carolina’s cuts to UI
The following post was written by Stan C. Kimer – Immediate Past President of the NC Council of Churches – in response to an op-ed claiming that North Carolina’s unemployment insurance cuts have led to more employed Tar Heels. (It’s also worth reading UNC Economist Patrick Conway’s response to the same op-ed pointing out that […]
What would a minimum wage raise mean for North Carolina?
As others have written, President Obama’s State of the Union address this week was, in many ways, a game changer. The President focused his speech on economic policies that are crucial for addressing women’s and families’ economic security – not only as an argument of economic fairness but as sound economic policy: A family with […]
A woman’s nation pushes back and the solutions are clear
The new Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back from the Brink takes a closer look at the economic reality and economic contributions of women in America. At a time when women are two-thirds of families’ breadwinners or co-breadwinners, one in three American women continue to live on the brink of poverty (defined here as […]
Rising poverty: What does UI have to do with it?
Over the last decade, poverty in our state has been on the rise. UNC Economics Professor Patrick Conway, in his new paper Poverty in North Carolina since 2000, explains that “poverty in North Carolina until 2000 had been a chronic but declining disease,” a trend that has been cruelly reversed. In the face of this […]
Spotlight on early childhood: Student parent success depends on affordable, quality child care
More and more students these days work hard to juggle school, work, and family in order to attain postsecondary credentials. More than one in four community college students nationwide are also parents. Access to reliable, quality child care is critical for the postsecondary success of these student parents. And with that educational success comes the potential […]
Spotlight on early childhood: Giving our kids a good start is not a game
*By Melea Rose-Waters, NC MomsRising I remember the board games of my childhood with a sense of nostalgia. Candy Land, Connect Four, Hungry Hippos, Operation, and Chutes and Ladders are just a few of the games that I remember playing with cousins and friends. I can imagine if I were to visit my 8-year-old self […]
Spotlight on early childhood: child care subsidy rates drive quality
*By Michele Rivest, Executive Director of the NC Child Care Coalition This post is part of a blog series on the crucial role of quality early childhood education and child care in caring for our youngest residents, creating thriving communities, and promoting a healthy economy. Learn more about the programs we are discussing this week […]
Spotlight on Early Childhood: Smart Start Plays Critical Role During Federal Shutdown
*By Stephanie Fanjul, President of the North Carolina Partnership for Children The federal shutdown had the potential to impact over 36,000 children under five who were at risk of losing their child care, but Smart Start was able to keep most of our youngest children from bearing any of the burden of the loss of […]
Spotlight on Early Childhood: A Look Back at the 2013 Legislative Session
**By Rob Thompson, Executive Director of the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children This post is part of a blog series on the crucial role of quality early childhood education and child care in caring for our youngest residents, creating thriving communities, and promoting a healthy economy. Read the introduction to this blog series and learn […]
Spotlight on Early Childhood: A focus on the programs that support our youngest North Carolinians and their families
**This post was authored by Elizabeth Queen, an intern with the Justice Center’s Workers’ Rights Project Today’s “walk in” highlights the recent hits to North Carolina’s public education system, from funneling desperately needed public school funding into private school vouchers to failing to adequately compensate teachers for their hard work to educate our children. We […]
Thousands of NC families wait for affordable, quality child care before, during and after the shutdown
Last Thursday, in the wake of the federal shutdown, the NC Department of Health and Human Services announced that county social service officials would resume processing TANF applications and that child care subsidy funds would be restored. But it’s still worth asking why North Carolina appeared to be the only state to fail to extend […]