A Fair Shot for All

TalkPoverty Radio relaunched as Off-Kilter. Listen to new episodes of the show on Soundcloud, and follow the show on Facebook and Twitter. 

This week, we talk to Todd Cox, Senior Fellow and Legal Correspondent for TalkPoverty Radio, about President Obama’s announcement that the federal government would “ban the box,” giving people with criminal records a fair shot in hiring processes. Next, Rebecca is joined by Eduardo Porter of The New York Times and Indi Dutta-Gupta of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality to discuss welfare reform’s legacy and what the election of Speaker Ryan means for people living in poverty. Tracey also reports from her trip to PolicyLink’s 2015 Equity Summit in Los Angeles, California where she connected with a number of leaders fighting for social justice. First, she sits down with Angela Glover Blackwell, President and CEO of PolicyLink, to discuss the goals of the Summit and how “equity is a superior growth model” for the economy. She then speaks with Alderman Antonio French of St. Louis, who gained national attention for covering the unrest in Ferguson in 2014. French joins to discuss the predatory fines and fees municipalities place on low-income people and people of color, and the future of Ferguson. Tracey also talks to Dixon Slingerland, Executive Director of the Youth Policy Institute, and one of the leaders of the Los Angeles Promise Zone. He discusses the challenges the neighborhoods in the zone face, and the progress they are making to revitalize the area.