Rebecca talks to Dorian Warren, co-chair of the Economic Security Project, and Aisha Nyandoro, creator of the Magnolia Mother's Trust, about the growing evidence calling for guaranteed income policies in the U.S. -- and why now is the moment to finally leave the 1990s-era "work requirements" debate in the history books.

The Ever-Growing Case for Guaranteed Income -- feat. Dorian Warren and Aisha Nyandoro

Rebecca talks to Jeremie Greer--co-founder and co-executive director of Liberation in a Generation--about the case for centering grassroots leaders of color within the anti-monopoly movement, and reimagining the antitrust movement’s work through a racial justice lens.

Reimagining Anti-Monopoly Activism Through Racial Justice -- feat. Jeremie Greer

Rebecca talks to Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, who served from 2001 until 2019 as the IRS’s internal watchdog known as the national taxpayer advocate, and Jen Burdick, a lawyer in the public benefits unit at Community Legal Services, about what it will take to ensure low-income individuals and families newly eligible for the new child allowance, the EITC expansion, and other income-boosting provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act can actually access those benefits—to ensure that the law's promised poverty reductions transfer from spreadsheets into real life.

Eligibility doesn’t equal access

To kick off a series of conversations with leaders in the field of reentry and criminal records reform for April as Second Chance Month, Rebecca talks to two of the leading academics behind a critical new line of research on what’s now being called the “second chance gap”—JJ Prescott, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and Colleen Chien, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and Paper Prisons Project—whose research on who’s getting left behind by hard to navigate expungement systems has been fueling state momentum to make criminal record-clearing automatic for everyone who’s eligible, instead of just the lucky few who can afford to hire a lawyer.

The Second Chance Gap -- feat. JJ Prescott and Colleen Chien

Off-Kilter continues our Second Chance Month series with Desmond Meade, executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, best known for the visionary Amendment 4 campaign that restored the right to vote for 1.4 million people with felony convictions in Florida—and Sheena Meade, managing director of the Clean Slate Initiative, a bipartisan national movement to expand record-clearing and make it automatic to put second chances within reach for everyone, not just folks who can afford a lawyer.

Desmond Meade and Sheena Meade Talk Second Chance Month

As Off-Kilter continues #SecondChanceMonth, to mark 4/20, Rebecca sat down with Adam Vine, cofounder of Cage Free Cannabis & Cage Free Repair, and Felicia Carbajal, interim director of programming with National Expungement Week.

Cage Free Cannabis Talks #SecondChanceMonth

As Off-Kilter closes out our #SecondChanceMonth series for the month of April, we’re bringing you a conversation Rebecca had earlier this week with a group of state leaders who’ve been advancing transformative “clean slate” and fair chance licensing reforms in recent years: Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II; Sharon Dietrich, litigation director at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia; Representative Jordan Harris, Minority Whip of the Pennsylvania Assembly; Josh Hoe, policy analyst at Safe and Just Michigan; Whitley Carpenter, criminal justice staff attorney at Forward Justice in North Carolina; and Jael Myrick, interim director of the Clean Slate practice at the East Bay Community Law Center in California.

State Leaders Talk #SecondChanceMonth: Fair Chance Licensing and Clean Slate

The April jobs data released by the Department of Labor last week spurred an avalanche of hysteria and conservative hand-wringing about supposedly widespread labor shortages, with many on the right pointing to pandemic jobless benefits as the bogeyman. In a particularly troubling move, on Wednesday of this week, 12 Republican governors announced they’d be ending access to pandemic unemployment benefits in their states. To help unpack the state of the labor market as the COVID-19 economic recovery continues—and the role of pandemic unemployment insurance in the recovery—Rebecca sat down with Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, former chief economist at the Department of Labor under President Obama, for a reality check on the jobs data and what they really tell us about the kind of policies we need at this point in the ongoing recovery.

What's Really Going on in the Labor Market -- feat. Heidi Shierholz

While poverty is all too often portrayed as a personal failure, it’s actually the result of bad public policy choices. Public policy has purposefully erected barriers that deny access to basic needs, creating a society where people can easily become trapped in poverty—not because we as a nation lack the resources to lift them out, but because we are actively choosing not to. This is the premise of Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty, a new book that looks at many of the policy choices conspiring to keep people poor and offers a roadmap of solutions that would eradicate poverty in the U.S. Rebecca sat down with the authors, Joanne Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox, for this week's pod.

"Broke in America"--feat. Joanne Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox

This week, Off-Kilter’s bringing you a conversation Rebecca moderated at The Century Foundation earlier this week, on the historic opportunity to make long overdue improvements to Supplemental Security Income as part of #BuildBackBetter—featuring Sen Sherrod Brown, Rep. Raul Grijalva, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman, as well as a panel of disability and seniors’ advocates.

Why Strengthening SSI Needs to Be Part of "Building Back Better"

TalkPoverty Radio is now Off-Kilter. To kick off the inaugural episode, host Rebecca Vallas is joined by Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, which examines resistance movements in the U.S. and how they have the power to reshape American politics. Next, Ezra Levin of Indivisible talks about what’s next for the movement that’s responsible for some spirited town halls this week. And Dorian Warren of Center for Community Change Action joins to unpack Trump’s attacks on immigrants and how they fit in with a broader divide-and-conquer strategy. But first, Jeremy Slevin breaks down this week’s biggest news. 

Follow this week’s guests on Twitter: 

Ezra Levin: @ezralevin
Sarah Jaffe: @sarahljaffe
Dorian Warren: @dorrianwarren
Jeremy Slevin: @jeremyslevin

The Resistance is Everywhere

This week, we are talking Baltimore and moms. Our friends at Media Matters help us cut through the conservative media narratives that blame the Baltimore unrest on welfare; Sam Seder examines conservative rhetoric versus reality; Jenée Desmond-Harris of Vox reports from Baltimore on what is happening on the ground; we take a look at how moms get blamed for basically all of our social ills; and more.  Our guests include Sam Seder, host of the Majority Report and co-host of Ring of Fire; Rebecca Lenn, Director of Outreach at Media Matters for America; Jenée Desmond-Harris, staff writer at Vox.com; Linda Blum, Associate Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University and author of Raising Generation Rx: Mothering Kids with Disabilities in an Age of Inequality; and ​Levester Joe Green II and Bryan Bello, co-directors of the film I am Levester Joe Green II.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

All Eyes on Baltimore

Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher of The Nation kicks off our show to discuss the recent poverty summit with President Obama, the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, and The Nation’s legacy since its founding by abolitionists 150 years ago. We are then joined by Patrick McCarthy, President and the CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, who talks about what we need to do to provide opportunity for all children in the child welfare system. Finally, Maya Pinto of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum gives us an inside look into the working conditions within the nail salon industry.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Where is Our Moral Compass?

Join us and explore the role art plays in social justice movements. Tracey talks with Meg Noe, Curator and Director of Education for David Weinberg Photography, about the gallery’s commitment to educating the public on issues of social justice. She is then joined by Billy McGuinness, a Chicago-based artist whose work is currently on display at the gallery as part of the exhibit An Invisible Hand. Tracey also speaks with Ben Stone, Executive Director of Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc., to discuss the role the arts plays in community change throughout his hometown of Baltimore.  And Alan Pyke of ThinkProgress joins Tracey and Alyssa Peterson (filling in for Rebecca) for another rendition of the Weekly Worst.

Art and Soul

This week we talk to Joan Walsh, editor-at-large for Salon.com, MSNBC political analyst, and author of “What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America.” We discuss 2016, the stigma around poverty, and race in the U.S. But first, we’re joined by Craig Harrington, Economic Policy Program Director at Media Matters for America, to discuss why comparing the U.S. economy to the Greek debt crisis makes no sense, and why conservatives are doing this anyway to promote austerity here at home. We also talk to Liz Ben-Ishai, Senior Policy Analyst at Center for Law and Social Policy, on how we can protect workers and help business at the same time by simply making work schedules predictable, and how new legislation can help.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Big Fat Greek Lie

July 26th marked 25 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To discuss how far we’ve come—and how far we still have to go—we’re joined by Talley Wells, Director of the Disability Integration Project at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, for an overview of the ADA as well as the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, a critical civil rights case for people with disabilities. Courtesy of the Vera Institute, we feature remarks from Talila “TL” Lewis, founder of HEARD, on the impact of the criminal justice system on people with disabilities. We also hear from Alice Wong about the Disability Visibility Project, a partnership with StoryCorps to collect oral histories of people with disabilities. And we are joined by Michael Morris, Executive Director of the National Disability Institute, to discuss the work that lies ahead to ensure that disability and poverty no longer go hand in hand.

For a transcript of the episode, click here.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Disability and Poverty: Breaking the Link

On August 6, 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which arguably has done more to empower African Americans than perhaps any law since the Fourteenth Amendment. Unfortunately, a 2013 Supreme Court decision gutted a central component of the law, and conservative attacks on voting rights have disenfranchised vulnerable communities. To discuss the storied history of the Voting Rights Act and where we need to go to restore its protections, we speak to Michele Jawando, Vice President of Legal Progress at the Center for American Progress and Ari Berman, a contributing writer for The Nation magazine. Later, we are joined by Glenn Martin, Founder and President of JustLeadershipUSA, to discuss President Obama's exciting program that would restore Pell Grants to some incarcerated students.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

The Voting Rights Act at 50

This past weekend highlighted two historic visits to U.S. prisons. First, Pope Francis spoke with a group of about 100 inmates in Philadelphia. Then HBO aired VICE’s special report, “Fixing the System,” which covered President Obama’s visit to a federal prison. To discuss the significance of these visits, the rise of “offender-funded justice,” and the country’s failed experiment with private prisons, we’re joined by Jeremy Haile, Federal Advocacy Counsel for The Sentencing Project, as well as Carl Takei, Staff Attorney at the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). We also speak with Rachel Tardiff, Deputy Director of Outreach for Media Matters for America, who breaks down the latest attempt in Maine to shame low-income Americans. And finally, we provide a sneak peek into the United Planning Organization’s discussion on “Poverty in the Media,” which brought together D.C. media personalities and anti-poverty activists.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Prison-Industrial Complex

Nearly every worker will experience a caregiving dilemma at some point in their working lives, yet only 12 percent of all private-sector workers have access to paid family leave. In a historic move, DC’s City Council is working to change that for workers in the nation’s capital. To discuss this landmark legislation, we’re joined by at-large Council members Elissa Silverman and David Grosso, the lead supporters of the measure, as well as Sheena Wadhawan, Advocacy Director of the Employment Justice Center.  But first, we’re joined by Todd Cox, a Senior Fellow at CAP and TalkPoverty Radio’s new criminal justice correspondent, who helps us dissect The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a groundbreaking piece of bipartisan legislation that promises to rein in our country’s “tough on crime” days with sensible reforms. And we’re joined once again by Alan Pyke of ThinkProgress for a special installment of the weekly worst.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

DC’s Fight for Paid Leave

On this week’s show, we kick things off by celebrating our neighbors to the North who elected Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister after he campaigned on an anti-poverty platform. In addition to Trudeau’s victory, there were some big wins for the First Nations people of Canada. To discuss this, as well as the work ahead to fight poverty among Native populations, we’re joined by our colleague Erik Stegman, an expert in American Indian and Alaska Native policy. In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we next discuss the intersection of poverty and domestic violence with Lisalyn Jacobs of Legal Momentum, an organization dedicated to ensuring economic and personal security for women and girls, and Dana Bolger of Know Your IX, a national survivor-run, student-driven campaign to end campus sexual violence. And we close things out with The Weekly(ish) Worst with Alan Pyke of ThinkProgress.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

O Canada!

This week, we talk to Todd Cox, Senior Fellow and Legal Correspondent for TalkPoverty Radio, about President Obama’s announcement that the federal government would “ban the box,” giving people with criminal records a fair shot in hiring processes. Next, Rebecca is joined by Eduardo Porter of The New York Times and Indi Dutta-Gupta of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality to discuss welfare reform's legacy and what the election of Speaker Ryan means for people living in poverty. Tracey also reports from her trip to PolicyLink’s 2015 Equity Summit in Los Angeles, California where she connected with a number of leaders fighting for social justice. First, she sits down with Angela Glover Blackwell, President and CEO of PolicyLink, to discuss the goals of the Summit and how “equity is a superior growth model” for the economy. She then speaks with Alderman Antonio French of St. Louis, who gained national attention for covering the unrest in Ferguson in 2014. French joins to discuss the predatory fines and fees municipalities place on low-income people and people of color, and the future of Ferguson. Tracey also talks to Dixon Slingerland, Executive Director of the Youth Policy Institute, and one of the leaders of the Los Angeles Promise Zone. He discusses the challenges the neighborhoods in the zone face, and the progress they are making to revitalize the area.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

A Fair Shot for All

New analysis from CAP has found that nearly half of U.S. children now have at least one parent with a criminal record. To discuss the family consequences that can stem from the barriers associated with a parent’s criminal record, we’re joined by our colleagues Melissa Boteach, Vice President of the Poverty to Prosperity Program, and Todd Cox, CAP Senior Fellow and TalkPoverty Radio's criminal justice correspondent. We’re then joined by a 32-year-old mother of three from Philadelphia who discusses how a decade-old misdemeanor conviction continues to punish her whole family. We’re also joined by Jo-Ann Wallace, the President and CEO of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), who discusses how the underfunding of public defense makes the right to counsel ring hollow for low-income defendants.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Criminal Records are a Family Sentence

The GOP sure has been talking a lot about poverty. This past weekend, Speaker Ryan and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) co-hosted a big anti-poverty summit in Columbia, South Carolina, where they brought together several of the GOP presidential hopefuls as well as conservative thought leaders to share their ideas for “expanding opportunity in America." To discuss the GOP’s proposals for fighting poverty—and what folks on the left and the right think about them—we’re joined by Robert Doar, the Mordridge Fellow in Poverty Studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and former Commissioner of New York City’s Human Resources Administration under Mayor Bloomberg, and Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former chief economist for Vice President Biden.

The Conservative Approach to Poverty

Over the past few weeks, Michigan’s emergency manager system has been under intense scrutiny as the cities of Detroit and Flint are in the midst of two crises that particularly impact children. First, for the past few weeks, teachers in the Detroit Public School system have been organizing “sick-outs” to bring attention to poor pay, crowded classrooms, and deplorable school conditions. To discuss this, we’re joined by Terrence Martin, executive vice president for the Detroit Federation of Teachers. We’re then joined by Kim Mitchell, a long-time teacher in the city’s public schools. An hour away, in Flint, MI, the city continues to deal with the water crisis, and anticipate the long-term needs of the children who were exposed to lead. We’re joined by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who serves as a professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University and Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Hurley Medical Center. Her research on elevated lead levels in children helped sound the alarm around Flint’s water crisis, bringing national attention to the long term effects this lead exposure will have on children. We are also joined by Alan Pyke of ThinkProgress for another installment of the Weekly Worst.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Emergency Management

In honor of President's Day (sort of), we nerd out about founding father Thomas Paine’s early vision of how to end poverty with Alex Lawson of Social Security Works and Ezra Levin of the Corporation for Enterprise Development. And we also sit down with Ian Millhiser, Justice Editor at ThinkProgress and author of Injustices: The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted to discuss Justice Antonin Scalia and what his passing means for the cases before the court.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

No Paine, No Gaine

It's Oscar season! And this year the Academy Awards arrive amid controversy for their overwhelmingly alabaster hue. With not a single person of color nominated in any of the acting, writing, or directing categories, the outrage around #OscarsSoWhite has many asking what the Academy values in a black performance. We're joined by Jamil Smith of MTV News to discuss an analysis by the New York Times finding that when it comes to black actresses in particular, it's only when portraying characters living in poverty that they get a shot at the golden statuette. But first, we sit down with Josh Eidelson, labor reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek, and Laura Durso of CAP's LGBT Progress team, to discuss the lack of federal workplace protections for LGBT people and a lawsuit against Walmart that could expand gay rights nationwide.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

#OscarsSoWhite

While there has been much discussion over the gender wage gap in this country, the fact that female shoppers are often penalized at the cash register has only recently begun to gain traction among policymakers. On this episode, we discuss what is known as the “pink tax” – the phenomenon of retailers increasing the price of products, such as shampoo or razors, once they are marketed to women – despite being identical to men’s products. This gender-based discrimination is also baked into items like tampons and other sanitary products – as they aren’t deemed medically necessary in many states – placing extra sales tax burdens on female consumers and spurring a movement to #freethetampons.  Later in the show, we break down the recent decision by the North Carolina legislature to pass discriminatory legislation that makes the state, as the New York Times editorial board put it, “a pioneer in bigotry” against LGBT people and other marginalized communities.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

The Pink Tax

This week, we discuss the federal government’s sweeping actions to protect the civil rights of transgender people, who are disproportionately affected by poverty due to widespread discrimination in housing, education, employment, and public accommodations. In fact, in her announcement that the Department of Justice would sue North Carolina over its discriminatory bathroom bill,  Attorney General Lynch compared the state’s actions to Jim Crow and called for an end to state-sanctioned discrimination. Later in the show, we break down the recent decision by Google to ban all ads for payday loans on its site.  And finally, we have another round of the Weekly Worst with Alan Pyke.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

August 6th marks the 51st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which put in place critical protections against discriminatory state policies that have the effect of disenfranchising communities of color. In the decades since, conservative attacks on voting rights—and a 2013 Supreme Court decision—have dramatically weakened the law. Meanwhile, as Ian Millhiser joins to discuss, a bevy of good news has emerged from the federal courts in recent weeks. And later in the show, we continue our summer reading series with Heather Boushey of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and author of Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

#RestoreTheVRA

Louisiana is no stranger to natural disasters—but this time, the media has all but neglected the recent floods in Baton Rouge. To discuss the floods’ disproportionate impact on low-income Louisianans, we are joined by Danielle Baussan, Managing Director of Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress. Later in the show, we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the law that “ended welfare as we know it” and created our nation’s current cash assistance program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. To discuss the remains of our nation’s welfare system and unpack the long-term repercussions of the law, we are joined by Indivar Dutta-Gupta, Director of the Project on Deep Poverty at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. Finally, we are joined by Samuel Hammond, the Poverty and Welfare Policy Analyst for the Niskanen Center, who offers a libertarian’s critique of TANF.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Baton Rouge

What a time to be alive. Robots can not only replace human labor—they can also be programmed to help recruit and hire humans, too. But it turns out that robots aren’t as unbiased as one might think. To discuss the implications of robot recruitment for low-income workers and workers of color, Mike Madowitz, an economist at the Center for American Progress, joins the show. Next up, in anticipation of the Census Bureau poverty data to be released next week, CAP senior fellow Shawn Fremstad joins to discuss why the official poverty measure is too damn low.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Racist Robots

Thanks to this week’s presidential debate, stop and frisk—yet another controversial police tactic that disproportionately targets people of color—has returned to the national spotlight. To unpack its legality and understand its connection to mass incarceration and police brutality, Jason Williamson, an attorney with the ACLU, joins the show. Another topic that has dominated headlines this election cycle is child care, which remains out of reach for far too many Americans, particularly those in low-wage jobs with unpredictable hours. To discuss solutions for a more equitable child care system—as well as the racial and gendered history of child care in America—Aleyamma Mathew of the Ms. Foundation and Mary Ignatius of Parent Voices join the show.  But first, Jeremy Slevin returns to discuss this week’s news in poverty.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

Stop and Frisk

This election cycle, stories about the white working class have dominated the news. But despite being widely covered, this group may also be one of the most misunderstood. We’re joined by journalist and native Kansan Sarah Smarsh to discuss what the mainstream media’s getting wrong when it comes to this voting bloc. Another issue that has gotten a lot of play in the 2016 election cycle is disability. But a little-known fact is that workers with disabilities can legally be paid far below minimum wage, with some earning just pennies an hour. To commemorate Disability Employment Awareness Month, we speak with Jordan Melograna, the filmmaker behind Bottom Dollars, a new documentary that shines a spotlight on the sub-minimum wage, and Cheryl Bates-Harris, an advocate with the National Disability Rights Network. But first, Jeremy Slevin returns to discuss this week’s news in poverty.

This episode originally aired as TalkPoverty Radio.

The White Working Class

One of this week's most egregious revelations is that white and male victims in personal injury cases receive larger awards than people of color and women. No, you didn't misread that: Their lives are literally judged to be more valuable under the law. Then, the rise of childcare deserts and new research finding that more than half of kids living in rural areas reside in areas with scarce childcare options. Next, we'll take a look at the heavy toll of mass deportation raids on undocumented workers. And finally, the conservative myth that raising the minimum wage "kills jobs" gets knocked down yet another peg. But first, Brandon Tensley fills in for Jeremy Slevin to highlight this week's biggest stories in poverty.

Is Your Life Worth as Much as a White Man's?

As we commemorate this week's ‘Day Without a Woman’ strike, this week’s Off-Kilter is an episode without Jeremy Slevin. Instead, Rebecca is joined by Michelle Chen, co-host of Dissent’s Belabored podcast, to unpack what this week’s strikes say about the future of establishment feminism. Next, Sarah McBride of the Human Rights Campaign, and the first openly transgender speaker at a major party convention, discusses the fight ahead for the LGBTQ community under Trump—and why she’s managed to remain optimistic. Next, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, joins to break down Trump’s other war on the media playing out quietly at the FCC. And finally, with Republican efforts to repeal and “replace” the Affordable Care Act continuing to advance full speed ahead, Rebecca sits down with three women whose personal stories highlight how the GOP’s Medicaid cuts would set the clock back on disability rights 50 years or more.
 
Follow this week’s guests on Twitter:

Michelle Chen: @meeshellchen
Sarah McBride: @SarahEMcBride 
Katrina vanden Heuvel: @KatrinaNation
Andraea Lavant: @andraealavant
Anastasia Somoza: @AnastasiaSomoza
Marta Conner: @MartitaConner

A Day Without a Woman

Last week, Ben Carson, President Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, unveiled a proposal to triple rents for the poorest families and take housing assistance away from unemployed and underemployed workers. This announcement comes amid a nationwide affordable housing crisis: In no state in the U.S. can a minimum wage worker earning $7.25 afford even a one-bedroom apartment at market rent.

Meanwhile, just 1 in 5 eligible low-income families receive help from the nation’s already massively underfunded housing assistance programs, leaving others paying 50, 60, 70 percent of their incomes on rent — while they languish on years, sometimes decades-long waitlists. Many end up facing eviction.

A new dataset produced by sociologist and Evicted author Matthew Desmond and his team at the Eviction Lab shines staggering new light on the scale and scope of the eviction epidemic. Cities such as Richmond, Virginia, face annual eviction rates as high as 1 in 9 households. Meanwhile, an exhibit at the National Building Museum based on Desmond’s book brings the issue to life.
This week on Off-Kilter, to help Ben Carson — and the rest of us — get up to speed on the reality of America’s affordable housing crisis, which his proposal would put on steroids, Rebecca speaks with two people working to fight eviction in very different ways.

But first, Jeremy Slevin, aka The Slevinator, returns from his brush with the bubonic plague with the news of the week, In Case You Missed It.

Evicted

Families aren’t just being separated at the border. Every day, parents in communities across the U.S. have their children taken from them as punishment simply for being poor, under the guise of protecting children from neglect. Congresswoman Gwen Moore knows what this is like from personal experience—she battled to retain custody of her oldest daughter, while she was struggling to make ends meet as a young mother. Recently, she introduced legislation to stop other families from being separated for the crime of being poor. Rebecca speaks with the Congresswoman about her own experience being punished for her poverty—and about her new bill.

Later in the show, wage theft is often viewed as a civil issue. But the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has taken it on as a major priority for criminal prosecutions—and with a focus on construction workers, as part of a larger initiative to protect and fight for a group of workers who don’t just risk their lives in some of the most dangerous working conditions… but can also be left wondering if they’ll even get paid. To hear more about how some of New York City’s top law enforcement officials are taking the fight on behalf of the city’s construction workers to the courtroom, Rebecca speaks with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Hilda Lin Colon, the coordinator of the Construction Fraud Task Force.

But first, what’s at stake for low-income workers and families if Brett Kavanaugh gets confirmed to the Supreme Court; good news out of Kentucky (for now) on Medicaid; DC Council introduces a bill to overturn the will of the voters by repealing Initiative 77, the minimum wage increase for tipped workers that passed last month; Jeremy gets engaged (!!); and other news of the week ICYMI.

Family Poverty is Not Child Neglect

Another Disability Justice Initiative takeover of Off-Kilter, for mental health awareness month.

From Stigma to Oppression

Rebecca sits down with Rep. Don Beyer, Vice Chair of Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and Heather Boushey of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, for the latest on where things stand in Washington on the federal COVID response.

Beyer + Boushey

Formerly TalkPoverty Radio, Off-Kilter is a podcast about poverty and inequality — and everything they intersect with. Each week, host Rebecca Vallas is joined by experts, advocates, activists, and other smart people to break down the issues of the day — and how we fight back. Heavy topics… but with a hefty dose of laughter and snark. Powered by the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

Find Off-Kilter on the Progressive Voices Network, the We Act Radio network in DC, local radio stations across the U.S., and as a podcast on iTunes. 

We want to hear from you! Send ideas, pitches, and feedback to offkilter@americanprogressaction.org.

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