On Our Radar

Axios, June 12, 2023, Exclusive: EPA administrator talks AI, environmental justice Driving the news: Before heading to a Silicon Valley clean energy summit Thursday, Regan stopped by Google’s campus to talk with chief sustainability officer Kate Brandt about tech innovation and how the private sector is pushing the envelope on equity and climate action. He spoke with Axios after the […]

Quartz, June 13, 2023, Could instituting a four-day workweek be a feminist act? Reception has been largely favorable. Workers report improved work-life balance, less stress and burnout, and higher productivity. But evidence has pointed to one other surprising outcome: The four-day workweek may also improve gender parity. Men with a four-day week reported spending 22%

Brookings, May 18, 2023, What Community Factors Are Helping—Or Hurting—Black Health And Well-Being? We Want To Hear From You. Based on existing data, Brookings has plotted the locations of some of the community assets3 in Howard County and Baltimore County in Maryland and Spalding County and Forsyth County in Georgia. If you live in one of these counties, we would like to hear from

NP, May 31, 2023, Making Policy Work For Rural Communities: The Value Of Community Voice Public funding programs often include conditions that exceed the capabilities of high-poverty areas, such as requiring matching funds that these areas do not have. Philanthropy often relies on large, national intermediaries that lack local knowledge and relationships. The private sector

American Banker, May 21, 2023, Banks Now Offer Payday-Loan Alternatives. How Many People Use Them? Over the last few years, several large and regional banks have started offering small-dollar loans to their cash-strapped customers. Now the question is: How many Americans are using the products? A new survey — conducted by the Online Lenders Alliance,

American Banker, May 12, 2023, Fed Nominees Include First Latina Pick And Jefferson For Vice Chair A former administrator at Davidson College, Jefferson has held several prominent positions in academia, served as a staff economist for the Fed and served on the advisory board of the Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve

The Washington Post, May 7, 2023, City Planners Targeted A Black Community For Heavy Pollution. Can The Damage Be Undone? This Black enclave — not far from the stately Bay Bridge and just downslope from the mansions of the East Bay hills — is sandwiched by three major freeways. Each day, the trucks and cars

Vox, May 1, 2023, The Fight To Make It Harder For Landlords To Evict Their Tenants In most US communities, renters have very little assurance of staying in their homes long term if they’d like to. Landlords can hike rents, evict tenants through court with little difficulty, or simply choose to not renew their lease.

WBAL News, April 23, 2023, Maryland Housing Market Causing Stress For Buyers And Sellers Miller said monthly payments for buyers have doubled. The Housing Report shows homes under contract fell 22% to $6,804. Active inventory dropped 8.6% to 7,445 units, while the number of new listings entering the market dropped by 34% to 6,855. All

American Banker, April 24, 2023, Redlining Probes Created Millions For Originations: DOJ The Department of Justice has reached almost $85 million in redlining settlements with financial institutions since 2021, according to a top prosecutor last week in an event at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey. The DOJ since 2021 has reached six redlining agreements,

The Hill, April 25, 2023, Home Prices Rise For The First Time In Months As Spring Fever Hits Housing Market Data released by the Commerce Department last week showed an 0.8 percent decrease in housing starts in March, led by a decline in construction of new multifamily units, which fell by 6.7 percent. Then after more

USA Today, April 23, 2023, Mortgage Fees Are Changing For Homebuyers Next Month. Here’s What You Should Know. Starting May 1, upfront fees for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be adjusted because of changes in the Loan Level Price Adjustments (LLPAs), the fees that vary from borrower to borrower based on their credit

Brookings, April 19, 2023, Pandemic-Driven Population Declines In Large Urban Areas Are Slowing Or Reversing, Latest Census Data Shows The first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on the populations of many of the nation’s largest cities and metropolitan areas. During the peak pandemic year (July 2020 through July 2021), national population growth dropped to a

The Washington Post, April 19, 2023, California Needs More Homes. So Why Are These Sitting Vacant? The empty houses belong to the state’shighway authority, which bought them decades ago to make way for an extension of Interstate 710 that never got built. Now, what began as failed transportation policy has become failed housing policy, exacerbated

The Hill, April 19, 2023, Single-Family Building Is Picking Up. But Can It Help Solve The Housing Shortage? Commerce Department data released on Tuesday showed an overall 0.8 percent decrease in housing starts in March, led by a decline in construction of new multifamily units — buildings with five or more units — which fell by 6.7 percent.