University of Wisconsin–Madison
Progressive Local Government
For the 21st Century

ProGov21 Policy Library

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Year
What Does Good Child Care Reform Look Like?
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
Achieving high-quality early care and education for all children will require meaningful public policy interventions and investments. Effective childcare reform must tackle the current system's main problems: lack of resources for parents to stay home with very young children, lack...
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Basic Income in Cities: A Guide to City Experiments and Pilot Projects
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source National League of Cities
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a cash payment granted to all members of a community on a regular basis, regardless of employment status or income level. This guide provides recommendations to cities looking to pilot UBI policies. In particular, it provides tips on how cities should...
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We Need Major Reform that Prioritizes the Needs of our Child Care Workforce
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
This infographic argues that subsidized child care is ineffective until the early care and education system is reformed to ensure educators earn fair wages and benefits. Although subsidies have the potential to help low-income families afford child care, tax credits primarily benefit...
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Gender Wage Gap Remains Wide in Year Two of the Pandemic: The 2021 Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race, Ethnicity, and Occupation
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2022
Level Other
State(s) All States, Wyoming
Source Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Policy Areas Economic Justice
As the economy recovered from COVID-19 and many women and men returned to paid employment, deep gender and racial/ethnic gaps in both employment and pay persisted. This fact sheet models wage gaps across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2021, and outlines the role occupational segregation...
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Coming Together for Loudoun County: Collective Bargaining Strengthens Communities and Families
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level County
State(s) Virginia
Source The Commonwealth Institute
Policy Areas Economic Justice
A review of county employee salaries reveals that many public employees in Loudoun County cannot afford to live in the county they serve. This brief highlights how collective bargaining could bring their pay closer to private sector pay levels and also reduce racial and gender pay...
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Impact Investing and Employee Ownership
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level Other Boards and Agencies
State(s) All States
Source The Democracy Collaborative
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Democracy & Governance
This report explores the existing landscape of employee ownership opportunities for impact investors and highlights emerging models and strategies for inclusive investment in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives. The benefits of employee ownership as a strategy...
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Educator Expectations, Qualifications, and Earnings: Shared Challenges and Divergent Systems in ECE and K-12
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
While there is wide agreement across states and types of schools that K-12 teachers should obtain a bachelor's degree, no consensus exists within the early care and education workforce. This report analyzes how this lack of consensus has led to disparities in minimum qualifications...
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Declines in work supports for low-income parents
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2015
Level City or Town
State(s) Massachusetts
Source MassBudget
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Education
This factsheet highlights the decline in work support for low-income parents in Massachusetts over the past fifteen years. Funding cuts for early education, childcare, occupational education, and job training assistance have reduced access to workforce development and career opportunities....
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The U.S. Needs a Federal Wealth Tax
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
A federal wealth tax on the richest 0.1 percent of Americans is a viable approach for Congress to raise revenue and address rising inequality. This report outlines reasons why the United States needs a federal wealth tax to achieve these goals, as opposed to federal tax policies that...
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“The Forgotten Ones”—The Economic Well-Being of Early Educators During COVID-19
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2022
Level State
State(s) California
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
This report provides a closer look at the well-being of California's early educators during the COVID-19 public health crisis, using data collected from the 2020 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study. Key findings show that educators' low wages leave them vulnerable...
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Child Tax Credit Enhancements Under the American Rescue Plan
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Children & Families
President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, the American Rescue Plan, includes a significant expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The proposal provides a $125 billion boost in funding for the program, which would double the size of the existing federal credit for households...
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Racial Wage Gaps in Early Education Employment
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
Early educators are some of the lowest-paid workers in every state, which especially burdens African American and Hispanic women in this profession. This report analyzes the racial disparities that exist in early education employment. Findings show that African American early educators...
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Crises in Flint and Detroit Compound Toxic Stress, Health Risks
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2016
Level City or Town
State(s) Michigan
Source Michigan League for Public Policy
Policy Areas Health, Children & Families, Education
This infographic highlights the significant challenges faced by children affected by the Flint water crisis and/or enrolled in Detroit Public Schools. It examines the detrimental impact of toxic stress, economic insecurity, and social determinants of health on these children's well-being....
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City at a Crossroads: Poverty, Jobs and the Future of Los Angeles
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2006
Level City or Town
State(s) California
Source Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Housing, Public Safety, Health, Education
This factsheet highlights the economic challenges facing low-income communities in Los Angeles, including poverty, a declining manufacturing industry, unemployment, increasing costs of living, and inadequate access to education and training programs. It argues that the city must act...
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Beyond Neoliberalism: A Policy Agenda for a Progressive City
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source Drexel University
Policy Areas Civil Rights, Community Development, Democracy & Governance, Economic Justice, Housing
Progressive cities should embrace redistributive policies and community organizing to increase equality in employment, affordable housing, and public transportation, and mitigate adverse environmental impacts. This report examines systemic inequities and provides progressive solutions...
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Income Growth and Gateway Cities: what happened and is there a path back to broadly shared prosperity?
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2016
Level City or Town
State(s) Massachusetts
Source MassBudget
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Education
This report examines the decline in income growth and shared prosperity in Gateway cities, mid-sized urban areas in Massachusetts that historically served as regional economic centers. It shows that wages have not kept pace with productivity since the 1970s, leading to income stagnation...
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Closing The Inequality Divide: A Strategy for Fostering Genuine Progress in Maryland
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2013
Level State
State(s) Maryland
Source Center for Sustainable Economy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Democracy & Governance
In 2009, with the economic crisis still ravaging the nation, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley put in place a bold new economic indicator, the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), to begin to assess more precisely what has gone right — and wrong — in his state’s economy. The GPI provides...
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Immigrant Families in Michigan: A state profile
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2017
Level City or Town
State(s) Michigan
Source Michigan League for Public Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
The document highlights Michigan's growing immigrant population. Children of immigrants, especially Hispanics, experience higher poverty rates, limited opportunities, forms of discrimination, and uncertainty over the termination of the DACA program. The document recommends policies...
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State and Local Impact of Raising the Minimal Wage To $ 15 in Massachusetts
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town
State(s) Massachusetts
Source MassBudget
Policy Areas Economic Justice
This brief looks at the state and local impact of a $15 minimum wage if it were phased in at a rate of $1 per year from 2019 until 2022. It finds that both low- and middle-class families benefit from an increase in the minimum wage....
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Early Childhood Workforce Index 2020
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education, Public Safety
Despite their important and complex work, early educators have faced low wages and unsafe working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report demonstrates that compensation within the early childhood education (ECE) workforce is uneven across states and among different classifications...
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Illinois’s Flat Tax Exacerbates Income Inequality and Racial Wealth Gaps
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level State
State(s) Illinois
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
Flat or graduated personal income taxes drive income inequality and racial wealth gaps. This brief compares Illinois’s flat income tax structure to the proposed Fair Tax amendment through a retrospective analysis. It shows that Illinois’s historic flat income tax in lieu of a graduated...
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Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the Southern U.S.
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town
State(s) Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
Source Partnership for Working Families
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Public Safety, Health
As construction activity in the southern United States continues to flourish, concern over workers’ health and safety grows. Economic hardships, few or no opportunities for career advancement, unstable work, injuries, and even death on the job are commonplace for construction workers...
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Moving Toward More Equitable State Tax Systems: A “Who Pays?” Follow-Up Report on Tax Policy Options for Advancing Equity and Addressing Income Inequality
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Public policies are contributing to the widening income and wealth gap. This report provides recommendations that policymakers can take to improve their constituents’ lives and their states’ economies through tax policy. It explains the importance of favoring taxes on income and wealth...
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Crumbling Roads, Poisoned Water and Unsafe Schools: the Effects of a Decade of Disinvestment
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2016
Level City or Town, County
State(s) Michigan
Source Michigan League for Public Policy
Policy Areas Health, Education
This infographic examines trends of reduced social spending and infrastructure investment in Michigan communities, using Flint and Detroit as case studies of the impacts of these austerity programs include diminished government purchasing power and a rise in extreme-child poverty...
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Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
No two state tax systems are the same. This report provides detailed analyses of the features of every state tax code and assesses their fairness by measuring effective state and local tax rates paid by all income groups. The report concludes the following findings: the majority of...
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