Lily
Roberts

Managing Director, Inclusive Growth

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Lily Roberts

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Lily Roberts is the managing director for Inclusive Growth at American Progress. Her work focuses on raising wages; combating economic inequality linked to race, gender, and geography; and building wealth and stability for American families. She is the former managing director for economic policy and director of economic mobility at American Progress. She has appeared on CNBC, NPR, and Politico to discuss economic justice and the labor market.

Prior to joining American Progress, Roberts worked at Mathematica Policy Research, where she researched federal strategies to support low- and middle-income families.

Roberts received a master’s degree in social work, focusing on community development, from Case Western Reserve University. Her undergraduate degree in military history and English is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Roberts has served as a case manager at a Washington, D.C., social services nonprofit and was previously an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Shaw.

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Project 2025 Would Cut Access to Overtime Pay Article
An employee pushes shopping carts out the front doors of a dollar store.

Project 2025 Would Cut Access to Overtime Pay

Project 2025 would make eligibility for overtime—also known as time-and-a-half pay—more confusing for workers to navigate and easier for employers to abuse.

Lily Roberts

Converting Vacant Office Space Into Housing Report
The corner of an empty apartment with windows that look onto office buildings in Lower Manhattan is seen.

Converting Vacant Office Space Into Housing

The adaptive reuse of underutilized office buildings, if paired with government support and comprehensive planning, might be a valuable tool in many local markets for addressing the vast need for more—and more affordable—housing.

Michela Zonta, Lily Roberts, Jessica Vela

5 Reasons Why Careening From Near Shutdown to Near Shutdown Is Bad for America Article
The waning Snow Moon sets behind the U.S. Capitol Dome.

5 Reasons Why Careening From Near Shutdown to Near Shutdown Is Bad for America

While avoiding a federal government shutdown is important, the chaos of constant shutdown threats; uncertainties about funding; and patchwork continuing resolutions are still detrimental for the government’s ability to provide services and the health of American democracy.

Counterpoint: The Farm Bill Is About More Than Farmers In the News

Counterpoint: The Farm Bill Is About More Than Farmers

In an opinion piece published by "DC Journal," Lily Roberts argues why the farm bill is not for wealthy farmers but is instead essential for growing the economy and the middle class.

DC Journal

Lily Roberts

Public and Private Investments Are Poised To Transform Michigan Report
A worker works on the bed of one of Ford’s battery-powered F-150 Lightning trucks.

Public and Private Investments Are Poised To Transform Michigan

The historic home of the automotive industry, Michigan, stands to benefit from major infrastructure improvements and new plants for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, especially if it incorporates public input and builds worker power to grow the middle class.

David Ballard, Lily Roberts, Marina Zhavoronkova, 4 More Kevin DeGood, Emily Gee, Jessica Vela, Karla Walter

With Prices Rising, States and Cities Must Raise Their Minimum Wages In the News

With Prices Rising, States and Cities Must Raise Their Minimum Wages

Lily Roberts and Rose Khattar outline why, 13 years since the federal minimum wage was last increased, states and cities must take action to ease the economic strain many workers and families face now in light of global inflation.

Route Fifty

Lily Roberts, Rose Khattar

The Biden Boom: Economic Recovery in 2021 Article
President Joe Biden gives remarks in Statuary Hall of the U.S Capitol.

The Biden Boom: Economic Recovery in 2021

President Joe Biden took office one year ago amid one of the worst economies in generations, but the U.S. economy has since made tremendous progress toward recovery, and workers are benefiting.

Seth Hanlon, Lily Roberts, Andres Vinelli, 2 More Rose Khattar, Nick Buffie

New Hampshire Needs the American Rescue Plan Fact Sheet
 (An employee loads up paper towels at Associated Grocers of New England Inc. in Pembroke, New Hampshire, on October 14, 2020.)

New Hampshire Needs the American Rescue Plan

The COVID-19 pandemic and resultant economic recession are still wreaking havoc on New Hampshire communities. President Biden and Congress must act boldly to ensure that working-class New Hampshirites are able to weather the storm.

Ryan Zamarripa, Lily Roberts

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