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Quick Facts About State Salary Range Transparency Laws Article
Wide shot of people at job fair

Quick Facts About State Salary Range Transparency Laws

Over the past few years, an increasing number of states have passed, or are considering passing, salary range transparency laws as one measure to help close the gender pay gap.

Becca Damante, Lauren Hoffman, Rose Khattar

Early Learning in the United States: 2021 Fact Sheet

Early Learning in the United States: 2021

These state fact sheets provide data on access to affordable child care for families, compensation for child care providers, and economic benefits of increased public investment in early learning.

MK Falgout

State Abortion Legislation in 2021 Report

State Abortion Legislation in 2021

In 2021, the United States has seen the highest number of abortion restrictions made law in a single year, and the legal context in which this newly enacted legislation will operate is particularly tenuous.

Elyssa Spitzer, Nora Ellmann

Closing Advanced Coursework Equity Gaps for All Students Report
Tenth-grade students make programming adjustments to a robot that they are testing in a Computer Science Principles course at a Maryland high school, December 2017. (Getty/Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

Closing Advanced Coursework Equity Gaps for All Students

Even in high schools with similar levels of access to advanced coursework, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students are less likely to be enrolled in advanced courses—and even when they are enrolled, they experience less success in these courses than their peers.

Roby Chatterji, Neil Campbell, Abby Quirk

The Funnel To Passing AP Exams Interactive

The Funnel To Passing AP Exams

This interactive uses data from the U.S. Department of Education to estimate how many students, overall and disaggregated, enroll in AP courses, take AP tests, and pass AP tests.

Roby Chatterji, Neil Campbell, Abby Quirk

A Criminal Record Shouldn’t Be a Life Sentence to Poverty Report
 (Close-up reflection of a white sign with red and black text in a window reading

A Criminal Record Shouldn’t Be a Life Sentence to Poverty

Bipartisan momentum for clean slate and fair chance licensing policies—which remove barriers to economic opportunity for people facing the stigma of a criminal record—has grown significantly in the states in recent years.

Rebecca Vallas, Sharon Dietrich, Beth Avery

A How-To Guide for Strengthening State and Local Prevailing Wage Laws Report

A How-To Guide for Strengthening State and Local Prevailing Wage Laws

This report provides a road map for state and local policymakers working to create or strengthen prevailing wage laws, explains core features of prevailing wage legislation, and lifts up existing best practices from around the county.

Karla Walter, Malkie Wall, Alex Rowell

Raising the Bar Report

Raising the Bar

States and cities can set minimum compensation standards for private sector employees that reference prevailing wage and benefit rates.

David Madland, Malkie Wall, Alex Rowell

How States Can Use TANF Funds To Help More Residents in Need Fact Sheet
A child carries a pet from her apartment as her family is evicted for nonpayment of rent, September 2020, in Phoenix. (Getty/John Moore)

How States Can Use TANF Funds To Help More Residents in Need

Even in the absence of congressional action, states can use TANF funds to support their residents who are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Justin Schweitzer

State and Local Wins Illustrate National Demand for Early Learning Investments Article
Children race outside during a

State and Local Wins Illustrate National Demand for Early Learning Investments

Communities across the country have passed state and local ballot measures to increase public funding for early childhood services, demonstrating a path forward for federal action in 2021.

MK Falgout, Laura Dallas McSorley

The Facts on State and Local Elections Fact Sheet
Voters stand in line outside of a satellite polling station in Philadelphia, October 2020. (Getty/Mark Makela)

The Facts on State and Local Elections

State and local elected officials are the key to ensuring that significant reforms are made to the criminal justice system.

Akua Amaning

6 State Strategies To Improve Child Care Policies During the Pandemic and Beyond Report
 (A 4-year-old paints autumn leaves in a child care center in Arnold, Maryland, on November, 25, 2019.)

6 State Strategies To Improve Child Care Policies During the Pandemic and Beyond

As the child care market struggles to survive the impact of the pandemic, states can implement strategies to improve child care so that it better meets the needs of working families, children, educators, and employers.

Simon Workman, Katie Hamm

Why Voting Matters for the Disability Community Article
A voter walks to fill in her ballot at a polling station in New York, November 2018. (Getty/Xinhua/Han Fang)

Why Voting Matters for the Disability Community

A lot is at stake in the 2020 elections—and voter turnout among Americans with disabilities must be supported before and after the polls close.

Valerie Novack

Fact Sheet: How State and Local Governments Can Make Climate Jobs Good Jobs Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet: How State and Local Governments Can Make Climate Jobs Good Jobs

Tackling climate change will require state and local action alongside federal policy change. State and local policymakers can ensure that good jobs are created in the new clean economy by focusing on five proven job-quality strategies.

David Madland, Terry Meginniss

17 Ways Companies Can Help Americans Vote Safely Report

17 Ways Companies Can Help Americans Vote Safely

This election, forward-looking businesses can provide an essential service to their communities—preserving the right to vote while also protecting their stakeholders from COVID-19.

Alex Tausanovitch, Sarah Bonk, Richard Eidlin

State Actions Undermining Abortion Rights in 2020 Report

State Actions Undermining Abortion Rights in 2020

Despite wins in the courts, abortion rights remain under attack and out of reach for many in the United States.

Nora Ellmann

20 Ways Cities Can Promote Safe and Effective Elections in November Report
 (A woman drops her Connecticut 2020 presidential primary ballot at a secure ballot drop box in Stamford, Connecticut, on August 11, 2020.)

20 Ways Cities Can Promote Safe and Effective Elections in November

Cities have an important role in helping to ensure that during the coronavirus pandemic, Americans can make their voices heard in the upcoming election cycle.

Danielle Root

State Responses To Address the Shortage of Infant and Toddler Child Care Article
A mother drops her 3-year-old son off at an emergency child care facility in Washington, D.C., April 15, 2020. (Getty/Astrid Riecken)

State Responses To Address the Shortage of Infant and Toddler Child Care

States and localities recognize the need for affordable, quality infant and toddler child care and have taken steps to create solutions that better serve their communities.

MK Falgout, Steven Jessen-Howard

Federal Funding Is Essential To Saving State and Local Public Services Article
An ambulance sits parked outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 2020. (Getty/Drew Angerer)

Federal Funding Is Essential To Saving State and Local Public Services

States and localities are facing severe budget shortfalls. In order to keep essential services—such as health care, education, transportation, and first responders—running uninterrupted, it is imperative that the federal government provide much-needed funding to states and localities.

Ryan Zamarripa

Local Governments Can Lead on Vote by Mail Article
An election worker handles vote-by-mail ballots in Renton, Washington, on March 10, 2020. (Getty/Jason Redmond/AFP)

Local Governments Can Lead on Vote by Mail

Some local government are sending absentee ballot applications to all registered voters, ensuring that more Americans can safely vote during the pandemic.

Alex Tausanovitch, Hauwa Ahmed

Ensuring Equitable Pathways for the Class of 2020 Amid the Coronavirus Article
An empty high school classroom in Lakewood, Colorado, March 16, 2020. (Getty/RJ Sangosti)

Ensuring Equitable Pathways for the Class of 2020 Amid the Coronavirus

Students, parents, schools, and districts need more explicit guidance on how to deal with high school to postsecondary pathway requirements during and in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ashley Jeffrey, Laura Jimenez

States Are Laying a Road Map for Climate Leadership Report
 (An aerial photo shows the solar farm that provides energy for Babcock Ranch, a solar-powered community in Florida, May 2019.)

States Are Laying a Road Map for Climate Leadership

The United States lacks federal climate action, so state and local governments are leading the way and creating polices for a just and inclusive clean energy economy.

Sam Ricketts, Rita Cliffton, Lola Oduyeru, 1 More Bill Holland

Digital Contact Tracing To Contain the Coronavirus Article
A person wearing a face mask crosses the street in New York City on April 15, 2020. (Getty/Noam Galai)

Digital Contact Tracing To Contain the Coronavirus

Digital contact tracing, if built in a voluntary, privacy-protective way using Apple and Google’s new Bluetooth-based standards, may allow the public to play a role in containing the coronavirus alongside increased testing and manual contact tracing from public health authorities.

Erin Simpson, Adam Conner

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