The language we use to describe systems of oppression greatly shapes our understanding of these systems and the people and communities impacted by them. This is especially true when it comes to the criminal legal system and our understanding of justice, or the lack thereof. Advocates around the country are engaging in conversation around the...Lee mas

Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, based on a book by the same name written by Celeste Ng, does a wonderful job looking at systematic issues our society faces. One scene finds the two main characters (one black and one white) discussing choices. At one point Kerry Washington’s character tells Reese Witherspoon’s character, “You didn’t make good...Lee mas

In 2018, I read Peter Temin’s book The Vanishing Middle Class. He got a lot of press coverage when the book was released, in large part because of his thesis that households who are working to escape poverty really need about 20 years without catastrophe. He theorized that on an individual level, it is sometimes...Lee mas

As we continue to see rising rental costs and the highest level of inflation seen in 40 years, millions of renters nationwide are increasingly struggling to find affordable, safe and dignified housing. More and more tenants are finding themselves having to pick between paying for childcare, medical care, food and rent. In 2022, the federal...Lee mas

America is in the midst of an epidemic. Rising home prices has increased the prices of rental properties, creating a general lack of affordable housing in this country. Historically, it has been argued that Americans should not spend more than 30% of their income on rent or mortgage and utilities. However, according to Harvard’s Joint...Lee mas

Just a few weeks into the new school year, many families are learning that after two years of all Missouri public school children receiving free school lunches, the School Lunch Program has returned to pre-pandemic form. Back in March of 2020, many Federal child nutrition waivers were offered as a form of COVID-19 relief. These...Lee mas

The governor has called a special session next week for the legislature to debate the largest income tax cut in Missouri’s history. The governor’s proposal would:  Reduce the top rate of income tax from the current 5.3% to 4.8%. Increase the standard deduction by $2,000 for single filers and $4,000 for joint filers. Eliminate the...Lee mas

Over the last six weeks, we have described Missouri’s practice of outsourcing probation and supervision services to private businesses and introduced why it is a problem and why we seek to make this a priority. For another brief summary of the issue, Human Rights Watch produced a short video describing how for-profit companies impact us....Lee mas

This past spring, as the school year was winding down, nonprofits across the country began working on plans to implement their summer feeding programs for kids. Planning was harder than usual though, as nonprofits were unsure what this summer would look like. The waivers that were put into place in March 2020 in light of...Lee mas

In part one of this series, we provided a brief introduction to the concept of private probation – the practice of outsourcing probation services for minor and low-level offenses to private businesses. In the second part of this series, we will explore  the issue in more depth, and answer two questions: how serious is the...Lee mas