Poverty

My checks came out to $300-400 weekly for about 70 hours of labor.

Not literally, thankfully.

Jennifer Carroll Foy is a former public defender and state legislator who wants to overhaul school funding and extend an eviction moratorium until the end of 2022.

The California city began distributing out up to $600 monthly to low-income residents.

Cities across the country have continued to displace and criminalize homelessness during the pandemic, though the CDC cautions clearing encampments can heighten the potential for the spread of COVID-19.

The city will give advocates 50 vacant homes to be used for permanent housing for low-income residents, according to a tentative agreement.

Food insecurity is not an acute emergency, but rather a chronic condition for low-income Americans that existed long before the current public health emergency.

A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common.

Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen.

The nation has an opportunity to take advantage of this transformative event and pursue an alternative to the current system.

The pandemic is making it clear that it’s time to radically rethink the social contract.

The federal government is not going to lead the way on addressing the economic pain caused by the shutdowns. But states have the power to do something about it now.

There are certain universal human needs that any governing structure — from local to federal — is responsible for. Among these are housing, healthcare, education, public parks, clean water, and clean air — the things that make life beautiful. These needs touch every single living being and as such, are non-negotiable. They do not belong on the open market.

Elected officials need to stop making excuses for not getting unhoused people into hotel rooms.

A Brooklyn teacher tried three times to get treatment for the coronavirus. Now she’s fighting for her life.

In Austin and across the country, service providers are dealing with spikes in demand, new logistical challenges, and mounting uncertainty about the months ahead.

There’s still a chance to make sure some of the most vulnerable people can benefit from the federal stimulus bill.

The COVID-19 crisis is shining a light on America’s worsening housing crisis and limited resources for response.

A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative and VOCAL-NY analyzes residence data for incarcerated people and uses it to look at how incarceration relates to community well-being

The attitude behind the Harris County district attorney’s message to ‘put down your gun and pick up an employment application’ is outdated.

Children who have been in foster care, especially those who have been subjected to multiple moves, are at a high risk of ending up incarcerated.

A rule restricting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will have profound consequences for people with criminal legal system involvement.

Heavy reliance on pretrial incarceration in Berks County subjects people to poor medical care and unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

The criminalization of poverty in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, has led to a staggering increase in incarcerated people, all at a huge cost for defendants and taxpayers alike.

In Georgia, a man stole a can of beer worth $2 from a corner store. The court ordered him to wear an ankle monitor for a year. The company administering it, Sentinel Offender Services, charged him so much money that he eventually owed more than $1,000. Trying to keep up with his payments, he sold plasma, but he fell behind and the judge jailed him for non-payment.

North of the New Mexico border sits Alamosa Municipal Court. An unassuming brick building with a terra cotta roof, the local court looks like a sleepy place you might duck into to pay a traffic ticket. Yet the mostly poor Alamosa residents who appear before Judge Daniel Powell are routinely denied counsel, face jail because […]

Activists in New York City are engaging in profound acts of resistance against over-policing in the subways. Politicians are listening, but are they really hearing them?

Eric Gonzalez has a longstanding reputation as a “pure district attorney” and criminal justice reformer. Before assuming his position as the Brooklyn District Attorney in 2016, following the death of much-beloved predecessor Ken Thompson, Gonzalez worked on a policy to scale back the prosecution of low-level marijuana offenders. He also assisted in the creation and implementation of a […]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the Civil Rights Corpsare calling for an end to cash bail in Davidson County, a practice that keeps thousands of people locked up every year because they are poor. Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, and Alec Karakatsanis, executive director of Civil Rights Corps, wrote in an op-ed that […]

For decades people who’ve jumped over the turnstiles in the New York subway system have faced arrest and being charged with criminal “theft of services.” But New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance recently announced that his office would no longer pursue criminal charges against most people for fare evasion, and would instead seek to send them […]