In an annual report, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that over half a million Americans were experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2022. According to Professor Megan Welsh Carroll, racial discrimination, criminalization, and of course, the high cost of housing all contribute to this growing crisis. And while progress is being made, many critical public services remain out of reach for this group, including one that has led to serious public health issues: a lack of public restrooms. As the director of San Diego State University’s Project for Sanitation Justice, Welsh Carroll explained what her team is doing to combat this specific problem in San Diego and how their work can serve as a model in other parts of the country.
For more on this topic:
Read Welsh Carroll’s OpEd in the Los Angeles Times: California cities don’t have enough public bathrooms. Here’s one solution
Read her SSN policy brief, co-authored by Jennifer Kate Felner and Jerel Pasion Calzo: Increasing Access to Public Bathrooms is Critical for San Diegans’ Health
Read her policy brief on the criminalization of the unhoused: Why Cities Must End Their Reliance on Police to Manage Homelessness – and How They Can Do it
2023 marks 50 years since the beginning of mass incarceration in 1973, when the U.S. prison population started increasing every single year for nearly four decades, according to Professor Nazgol Ghandnoosh. Ghandnoosh, who works for The Sentencing Project, shared some sobering numbers: today, over five million people are under supervision by the criminal legal system, and nearly two million people, disproportionately Black, are living in prisons. During this conversation, she delved into the different costs of incarceration – both on the incarcerated and on our society – and highlighted efforts needed to bring down our prison population.
For more on this topic:
Check out Ghandnoosh’s brief for the Sentencing Project, Ending 50 Years of Mass Incarceration: Urgent Reform Needed to Protect Future Generations
Read her report on racial disparities in the prison system: Black Lives Matter: Eliminating Racial Inequity in the Criminal Justice System
In states across the country, a flurry of new laws are being considered, and often passed, that specifically target transgender individuals – from bills that bar access to gender-affirming healthcare for youth to legislation that bans transgender people from competing in athletics. Professor Zein Murib shared where things stand, why transgender people have become the focus of so much legislative activity, and what these laws mean for the future of the LGBTQ+ movement and American society as a whole.
For more on this topic:
Read their OpEd for Teen Vogue, Expect More Right-Wing Anti-Trans, Anti-"Critical Race Theory" Pushes in 2023 – and 2024
Find the book, Testosterone: An Unauthorized Biography, mentioned in the episode
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans may at times feel as though they’re invisible. An estimated 3 million of them live in the U.S. yet have no box to mark their identities on government forms, such as the Census, and other surveys. Professor Neda Maghbouleh, who has spent years studying the exclusion faced by MENA Americans, laid out how the misrepresentation of their race impacts their lives. She explained what steps need to be taken to increase visibility for those who fall in the MENA category as well as what changes are already underway – thanks to efforts by Magbouleh and her colleagues René D. Flores and Ariela Schachter.
For more on this topic:
Check out Neda Maghbouleh’s OpEd in Newsweek, coauthored by René D. Flores and Ariela Schachter: 5 Years After Muslim Ban, Middle Eastern and North African Americans Remain Hidden.
Read an interview with Maghbouleh conducted by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: Why a MENA Category Matters.
In the American school system, math and science are considered essential building blocks of a good education. But for many students, those building blocks can topple over somewhere along the way. We spoke to Professor Lara Perez-Felkner, who laid out invisible barriers faced by racially minoritized and economically disadvantaged students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Perez-Felkner discussed ways that school administrators, policymakers, and families can come together to remove these barriers and increase opportunity – all the way from kindergarten classrooms to college laboratories.
For more on this topic:
Check out Lara Perez-Felkner’s SSN brief: Transforming Opportunity to Support STEM Success for All.
Read her paper, co-authored by Samantha Nix: Difficulty Orientations, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity: An Intersectional Analysis of Pathways to STEM Degrees
Gone are the days of file cabinets, wall calendars and phone books, as advances in technology have made storing information easier than ever. But given a slew of high-profile data breaches in recent years – both at governmental agencies and private companies – cybersecurity is quickly becoming one of the most pressing issues facing our country. How can our government better protect against increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks? And how might these data breaches impact the lives of everyday Americans? Professor Jeremy Straub answered these questions and more, emphasizing what needs to happen to prevent a truly catastrophic data breach – and what such a breach could mean for the world.
For more on this topic:
Check out Jeremy Straub’s SSN brief: Cybersecurity Incidents Can Be Unwelcome Wakeup Calls for Unprepared Agencies.
Read his paper: Defining, Evaluating, Preparing for and Responding to a Cyber Pearl Harbor.
According to the CDC, more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021. And a record-breaking 627 of those deaths occurred in the state of Maine. Substance use disorder is seen as a public health emergency by the medical community – but drug arrests continue to increase all over the country. In light of these developments, professor of political science Rob Glover, alongside his colleague Karyn Sporer (professor of sociology), set out to discover Mainers’ attitudes about current drug policy in their state and what reforms they favor. Professor Glover shared these eye-opening findings with us – as well as its policy implications.
For more on this topic:
Check out Rob Glover and Karyn Sporer’s OpEd published in the Kennebec Journal: Maine Voters Want a New Approach on Drug Policy.
With the midterm elections around the corner, all eyes are on the record-breaking number of Black female candidates on the ballot. We spoke to professor of government Nadia E. Brown, who shared her research on what’s contributing to the rising numbers of Black women seeking office. During the conversation, Professor Brown explored what the combined identity of being Black and female means for those who enter into politics and ways in which prior political participation becomes a key motivator for them to run for office.
For more on this topic:
Check out Nadia E. Brown’s book, Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Women and Legislative Decision Making.
Read her paper, coauthored by Jamil Scott, Lorrie Frasure, and Dianne Pinderhughes: Destined to Run?: The Role of Political Participation on Black Women’s Decision to Run for Elected Office.
Read her SSN brief: What’s Hair Got to Do With It? Black Women’s Bodies and the Traditional Look of Success in American Politics.
With rent prices and mortgage rates continuing to skyrocket, finding and keeping stable housing is getting increasingly challenging for many Americans. But according to sociology professor Prentiss Dantzler, those challenges are amplified for members of marginalized groups, such as Black Americans. Professor Dantzler spoke to us about the ways racial discrimination persists in the housing market, despite laws - such as the Fair Housing Act of 1968 - that were put into place decades ago to prevent it. He emphasized that having a home should not be viewed as a privilege, but rather a human right, and offered policy solutions to help achieve that vision.
For more on this topic:
Read Prentiss Dantzler’s paper, Making Our Way Home: Housing Policy, Racial Capitalism, and Reparations.
Check out a paper written by two of his colleagues, Elizabeth Korver-Glenn and Junia Howell, mentioned in the episode: The Increasing Effect of Neighborhood Racial Composition on Housing Values, 1980-2015.
Millions of Americans are poor, food insecure, housing cost-burdened, or medically uninsured. This is where the U.S. social safety net comes in – with programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment insurance – to catch their fall. But how many experience a smooth landing? And how can society provide tangible relief to those who miss the net entirely? We sought answers from professor of public policy Chris Howard, who broke down what’s included when we talk about the “social safety net” and proposed ways to mend the gaping holes.
For more on this topic:
Check out Chris Howard’s new SSN brief: A Realistic Portrait of the Social Safety Net
Pre-order his forthcoming book, Who Cares: The Social Safety Net in America
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the war in Ukraine have brought an increased number of refugees to America over the past year. Enter refugee resettlement agencies – organizations that provide food, shelter, and of course, job placement to newly arrived refugees. But according to sociologist Dr. Nicole Kreisberg, their current strategy of job placement is deeply flawed: prioritizing immediate yet low-wage work over long-term reliable employment. Kreisberg spoke to us about the harms of this strategy, and what needs to be done to truly support incoming refugees.
For more on this topic:
Check out Nicole Kreisberg’s SSN brief, co-written by Els de Graauw and Shannon Gleeson: Refugee Settlement Should Look Beyond First Job Placements
Read her recent paper, also co-written by Els de Graauw and Shannon Gleeson: Explaining Refugee Employment Declines: Structural Shortcomings in Federal Resettlement Support
The US Supreme Court has a long history of firmly defending its philosophy of neutrality and did the same for the recent and historic overturn of Roe. Wade. But according to law professor Cedric Merlin Powell, the Court’s neutral stance on cases impacting marginalized groups – including women and communities of color – ignores inequalities and in doing so, worsens them. Professor Powell sat down to speak with us about the serious harms caused by a judicial branch whose decisionmaking ignores the realities of racism, sexism, and other oppressive forces in our society.
For more of Cedric Merlin Powell’s work:
Check out his SSN brief: How Race-Neutral Rulings by the Supreme Court Perpetuate Inequalities
Pre-order his forthcoming book , Post-Racial Constitutionalism and the Roberts Court
Last but not least, SSN is excited to highlight a new podcast series, When the People Decide, by The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at PennState. In this series, Jenna Spinelle tells the stories of activists, legislators, academics, and average citizens who changed their cities, states, and the country by taking important issues directly to voters — like Medicaid expansion in Idaho, sentencing reform in California, and LGBTQ workplace protections in Ohio.
More and more Americans are facing massive student debt and daunting payment plans once the federal pause on loan payments runs out. But this burden is not spread evenly, and neither are the challenges of paying it off. In this episode, we spoke to Associate Professor of Public Policy Fenaba Addo about who is really facing a student debt crisis, what contributes to student debt accumulation, and how race and family wealth factor into it all.
For more of Fenaba Addo’s work:
Millennials are often seen as a progressive-minded generation – as 80’s and 90’s kids, they grew up in a digital landscape that exposed them to a diversity of perspectives. But while expectations were high that this generation would be on the frontlines in the fight for racial equality, recent research by Associate Professor of Political Science Candis Watts Smith paints a different picture. During our conversation, Professor Smith discussed how white millennials’ really think about race and the ways in which their views and beliefs have largely halted progress for Black Americans and other racial minorities in the United States.
For more of Candis Smith’s work:
Check out her book on this research, Racial Stasis: The Millennial Generation and the Stagnation of Racial Attitudes in American Politics
Read her latest book Stay Woke: A People’s Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter
Listen to her podcast, Democracy Works, to hear interviews with experts who study all different aspects of what it means to live in a democracy.
Conversations around climate change often focus on the consumption habits of everyday people: the cars we drive, the food we eat, our electricity bills. But according to geography professor Matt Huber, the carbon footprints of consumers are not what we should be so concerned about, despite all the rhetoric. During our conversation, Professor Huber focused on what (and who) he argues are largely responsible for our alarmingly high rate of carbon emissions – and offered solutions.
For more of Matt Huber’s work:
Check out his new book coming out on May 10th: Climate Change as Class War
Read his opinion article on this topic published in Jacobin: Rich People are Fueling Climate Catastrophe – But Not Mostly Because of Their Consumption
Check out his new book coming out on March 8th Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics – and How to Cure It
Read another one of his recent books on this topic Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy
For more of Tova Walsh’s work:
Check out her recent opinion article published in NBC News: As COVID surges, health officials must remember that in-person postpartum care is essential
Listen to her interviews about the experience of early parenting during the pandemic, on Wisconsin Public Radio and Slate’s parenting podcast.
Amidst the dizzying onslaught of crises facing the nation – and the world – over the past several years, we are starting the new year by reflecting on how Americans react and respond to traumatic events, both as individuals and as groups. How do frightening circumstances facing our communities impact us psychologically? Why does so much disparity exist in the ways we process the same harmful events? How can we connect and find unity amidst all the chaos? These are some of the questions we explored with Dr. Maurice Stevens, a professor of comparative studies whose critical trauma theory research focuses on ways individuals and communities react to overwhelming events.
For more of Maurice Stevens’s work:
Check out their SSN brief on this topic: Getting Beyond Trauma.
Read a similar piece they published in Oppositional Conversations titled Contesting Catastrophes.
Tribal communities are entitled to federally funded healthcare under treaties signed with the U.S. government. And yet, Native Americans often struggle to access quality healthcare, creating health disparities that take a tremendous toll on their lives . In this episode, research scientist Dr. Emily Haozous explains what those health disparities have looked like over the past few decades, where they stand now, and what needs to be done to better meet the health needs of tribal communities.
For more of Emily Haozous’s work:
Read her SSN brief on this topic: Challenges on the Horizon for Native American Sovereignty and Healthcare
Learn about some of her past research on the health needs of the Native population in Santa Fe, in The Santa Fe Reporter.
The decades-long childcare crisis in America -- worsened by the pandemic -- continues to deepen: parents all across the nation have been facing immense challenges in finding quality, affordable childcare, all while childcare providers continue to deal with poor working conditions and cripplingly low wages. This month, we spoke to labor economist Mary King, who focuses on the public provision of high quality preschool and childcare. During our conversation, Dr. King offered a detailed examination of the crisis and explained the many advantages of creating a universal preschool program.
For more of Mary King’s work:
Read her three SSN briefs on this topic: New Preschool Program in Oregon is a Model for the Nation -- But Challenges Remain, The Labor Force for Needed Investments in Public Childcare Already Exists, and To Address the Childcare Crisis, Talk to Low Wage Moms
With a near-total abortion ban that was recently passed in Texas and Mississippi’s request to overturn Roe v. Wade making its way to the Supreme Court, many are asking what the uptick in abortion restrictions in the US will mean for reproductive health and justice. On this latest episode, Professor Amanda Stevenson draws on her new research to show how abortion bans lead to an increase in pregnancy-related deaths and steps policymakers can take to expand greater access to reproductive health services.
For more on Amanda Stevenson’s research and this topic:
Check out her latest opinion piece published in Salon: Pregnancy is Much More Dangerous Than Abortion -- Meaning Abortion Bans Like Texas’ Will Be More Deadly
Take a look at the CDC”s Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System page that provides stats on pregnancy-related deaths.
Join us for the official relaunch of the No Jargon Podcast! For our first episode since our eleven-month hiatus, we take on Big Tech and government. Tech giants like Amazon and Facebook have been in the news a lot lately, especially after the House Judiciary Committee approved several antitrust bills this past summer that aim to curb the power of the tech industry. We decided to have a conversation with Margaret O’Mara, a renowned historian who has spent most of her career examining the love/hate relationship between Big Tech and government. Dr. O’Mara shares colorful stories about Silicon Valley – from its early beginnings to the days of the internet boom – all while explaining the Valley’s ever-present intersection with US politics. She takes us on a journey through the ups and downs of the intensely eventful relationship between the two.
For more of Margaret O’Mara’s work:
The 2020 election is quickly approaching and there is no lack of challenges for election administrators to overcome. From a pandemic that’s made finding poll workers difficult, to a massive influx of vote-by-mail ballots that are likely to delay results, to perhaps the biggest challenge of them all: the false rhetoric coming from the White House around the validity of the entire process. In this special episode, Professor Thessalia Merivaki lays out how election administrators are addressing these challenges, what we can expect come November, and what types of voter suppression to watch out for.
For more on this topic:
No Jargon is back for a special episode featuring Dr. Emma Sandoe. Medicaid has become the largest source of health care coverage in America. Just this year, even more states expanded their Medicaid programs, meaning that this trend is only going to continue. And yet, many people still don’t know much about this program. Dr. Sandoe explains how we got here, what lessons we can learn from the history of this program, and what the future of Medicaid looks like amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
For more on this topic:
Since the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police at the end of May, the United States has been rocked by weeks of nationwide protests against police brutality, and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon. Professor Vesla Weaver dives into how this movement is different from protests of the past, what brought us to the current situation, how our nation’s police system has affected Black and Brown people’s lives and understanding of our democracy, and what to make of calls for changes, such as abolishing the police.
For more on this topic:
Note: This episode includes some explicit language.