In the Lead2021-01-07T17:39:15-04:00


In the Lead

FAFSA delay blog
FAFSA Delays-Navigating the Thorny Landscape of College Unaffordability

For many low-income college students, the prevailing Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) delays are causing added panic to our ever-growing educational crisis of soaring college costs. IWPR's Policy Team weighs in.

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Access to reproductive health care is dependent on where you live and how your state’s laws protect – or restrict – abortion

When the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, the decision upended fifty years of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade – and created a legal quagmire that continues to play out on a state level across the country. In the wake of the decision, the accessibility of abortion is caught up in a complex web of state laws, legal challenges, and the threat of further restrictions – complicated by perennial challenges to accessibility [...]

August 17, 2022|Categories: In the Lead, IWPR|Tags: , , |

Fostering Student Parent Success at Los Angeles Valley College: The Role of the Family Resource Center

Watch Webinar Recording     Across the country, community colleges provide critical on-ramps to higher education and opportunities for skill enhancement for low-to-moderate-income families, including student parents, at a fraction of the cost of four-year private institutions. They are often a steppingstone to career advancement and economic security for parents and their children. But it is essential that student parents have the resources and tools to enable them to navigate their academic careers while also raising young children. To [...]

August 16, 2022|Categories: In the Lead|Tags: |

The Wage Gap for Asian American and Pacific Islander Women by State

May 3rd is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Women’s Equal Pay Day—the day an average AAPI woman must work into the new year to make what the average White man made the year prior. Based on the median annual earnings of anyone who worked for pay in 2019 (latest available data), AAPI women earned just 75.5 percent of what White men made: $38,392 compared to $50,849 for White men.[i] The wage gap is narrower when only full-time, year-round [...]

May 2, 2022|Categories: In the Lead, Media|

Not Just 9 to 5: Expanding Child Care Options for Parents Working Nontraditional Hours

In the United States, a whopping 43 percent of children have a parent who works “nontraditional hours,” or during the early mornings, nights, or weekends. And yet just 8 percent of child care centers offer care before 7am or after 6pm. While families of all types require care during nontraditional hours, Black and Latinx workers and low-income workers are disproportionately more likely to work during nontraditional hours.

April 18, 2022|Categories: In the Lead, Media|Tags: |

A Historic Expansion in Paid Family and Medical Leave in the Nation’s Capital

This month, DC’s Paid Family Leave Program was approved to expand in a powerful way, thanks to a law that Councilmember Elissa Silverman successfully entered into the 2022 Budget. The expansion, which will go into effect beginning July 1, 2022, will increase paid leave for private sector workers from 8 to 12 weeks for parental leave, and from 6 to 12 weeks for family caregiving leave and medical leave. Employers will also see a reduced payroll tax rate after the policy’s reevaluation by the City’s Chief Financial Officer.

March 24, 2022|Categories: In the Lead|Tags: , , |

Equal Pay Day 2022: Digging Deeper into This Year’s Gender Wage Gap

Equal Pay Day, March 15th, is a day of observance of the persistent gender wage gap in the United States. It marks how far into the new year that women must work to earn what men made in the previous year. Women working full-time earn 83.1 percent of men’s median weekly earnings. But this figure only tells part of the story because it only includes full-time workers. Women are more likely than men to work part-time due to family responsibilities, [...]

March 16, 2022|Categories: In the Lead|Tags: , , |