Cost of Living
Find Childcare and Family Cost Supports
Childcare is often a family's largest bill after housing. Subsidies exist, but finding them takes know-how.
Blog
Corporate Power
Engage on Local Economic-Development Deals
Tax breaks and subsidies for businesses are usually approved in public meetings, and the terms are negotiable.
Income
Help a Neighbor with Income Supports
Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is help one person through a door that's already supposed to be open.
Jobs
What Job Quality Actually Means
When we measure the labor market, we obsess over the unemployment rate and the average hourly wage.
Housing
Germany’s “NON-CAPITALISM SOLUTION” to the Housing Crisis
The video explores the concept of housing cooperatives (co-ops) as a compelling solution to the affordable housing crisis in the United States and beyond.…
SNAP
The Grocery Cart Math
SNAP is often debated as an abstraction, but its daily reality is a grocery cart, a benefit balance, and the arithmetic of getting through…
Housing
Engage Your Housing Authority or Local Officials
Public housing authorities have public boards, public budgets, and public meetings. Residents can use all three.
Cost of Living
Engage on Transit and Transportation Costs
Transportation is the second-largest household expense after housing. Transit agencies make service and fare decisions in public.
Corporate Power
Document Community Impacts
When a plant closes, a hospital merges, or a store chain leaves town, careful documentation helps officials and reporters understand what happened.
Social Safety Net
Attend Human Services or Budget Hearings
Staffing, office hours, and local program rules are often decided in county board and budget meetings that few residents attend.
Income
Find and Use Free Tax and Benefits Help
Some of the biggest income supports are claimed at tax time or through a benefits office. Free, legitimate help exists.
Jobs
The Shift in Employer-Sponsored Benefits
A job is more than a paycheck; it is a bundle of compensation that includes benefits.