Inequality – The Public Good Index
1947-1979 change in real income of poorest 20 percent of population: 122 percent.
Of richest 20 percent: 99 percent.
Change of richest 1 percent: 39 percent.
Change of richest .01 percent: 29 percent.… Read More
Work – The Public Good Index
Number of U.S. states that mandate paid maternity leave: 4.
Number of countries that do: 185.
Maximum number of weeks of paid maternity leave in U.S. states: 16.
Number of countries that provide more than 16 weeks of paid maternity leave: 105.… Read More
Education – The Public Good Index
Pell grants, awarded solely on need, are the largest single source of non-loan assistance to postsecondary education. Two thirds of Pell recipients enroll in public colleges and universities.
Fraction of tuition, fee, room and board expenses in public four-year colleges covered by Pell Grants in 1975: 79 percent.
In 2017: 29 percent.… Read More
China’s New Recycling Import Policy and the Future of US Municipal Recycling
Could the change in China’s recycling policy lead to a municipal recycling revolution in America?… Read More
To Save the Internet We Must Own the Networks
In October FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced, ““We’ve been energetic in advancing the public interest…over the past nine months…” Energetic? You bet. In the public interest? Not on your life.… Read More
The Movement for Free College Tuition Is Growing
In 2015, President Obama proposed making community college free nationwide. He pointed to a pilot free tuition program just being launched by Tennessee for recent high school graduates and might not have been aware of a free tuition program operating in Louisiana for almost two decades. The election of Donald Trump killed the prospect of federal … Read More
Farmworkers of the World — Unite!
This article was originally published in our The Public Good: Reports from the Front Lines (October 26, 2017), available here. Florida produces 90 percent of our winter tomatoes. The Immokalee region in southwestern Florida grows one-third of all U.S. tomatoes. The plight of farmworkers in the Immokalee area has been publicly known for decades. That plight was featured in Edward R. Murrow’s searing … Read More
The Public Good: Reports from the Front Lines (October 26, 2017)
A selection of recent news stories with an ILSR insight into “The Public Good.” Free School Meals for Everyone | Farmworkers of the World: Unite | Reagan, Trump, and Activist Cities Free School Meals for Everyone In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act, a law championed by first lady Michelle Obama. Among other provisions, the … Read More
Protecting Communities from Gentrification
We have a workable model for making housing affordable and protecting neighborhood residents from displacement: a Community Land Trust. Only one city to date has embraced it aggressively and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it began to do so when Bernie Sanders was its mayor. Now a coalition is pushing Baltimore to make a major investment in this model.… Read More