Social Justice

What Trans-Pacific and U.S.-EU Trade Partnerships Must Tackle: Jobs

HUFFINGTON POST 06/13/13 By Michael Shank and Sabina Dewan A high-level panel appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released its recommendations last month for a global development agenda when the Millennium Development Goals expire at the end of 2015 and when approximately one billion people will still […]

Not Just Any Jobs, But Just Jobs

THE HILL 06/12/13 By Michael Shank and Sabina Dewan Last week, a high-level panel appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released its recommendations for a global development agenda when the Millennium Development Goals expire at the end of 2015 and when approximately one billion people will still […]

Doing Away With Food Deserts in the District

WASHINGTON POST 05/17/13 By Michael Shank It’s hard to believe that so many in America — over 50 million people — live in food insecurity.  This is the unfortunate reality all too common in Somalia or Pakistan, but America? What’s worse is that this food insecurity is most apparent in […]

D.C.’s Separate and (Un)equal Driver’s License Plan

WASHINGTON POST 05/08/13 By Michael Shank and Lindsay Schubiner Mayor Vincent C. Gray(D) proposed a bill last week that would permit undocumented District residents to acquire driver’s licenses and identification cards.  D.C. is the latest in a string of states that have taken similar steps in response to immigrant rights […]

Ending Global Poverty Dependent on Employment Based Growth

THE HILL 04/29/13 By Michael Shank and Sabina Dewan The World Bank has always focused on poverty reduction; it is their stated mission to ‘help reduce poverty’. But actually ending it, with a target date, was never their explicit goal, until now. In Washington, at their annual spring meeting last […]

DC Public Schools: How to Keep Kids Out of Class, Not In

WASHINGTON POST 04/29/13 By Michael Shank and Allyson Mitchell A new report, released last week, suggests that DC Public Schools’ much lauded reform efforts are still failing to produce positive results for DC’s students.  Despite changes first championed by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee and now by Chancellor Kaya Henderson, the […]

Immigration Debate: How DC Can Move the Conversation Forward

WASHINGTON POST 04/10/13 By Michael Shank and Lindsay Schubiner On Wednesday, thousands of immigrants, documented and undocumented, will gather in Washington, D.C. to rally for comprehensive immigration reform, hoping to tip the scales of Congressional bipartisan support. The city’s Mayor Vince C. Gray (D), if he chooses, will have an […]

DC’s Poorest Set to Suffer From Federal Sequester

HUFFINGTON POST 03/13/13 By Michael Shank The District of Columbia’s poverty problem received much-needed attention recently with reporting on how D.C. General has become a home for hundreds of homeless parents and children. The over-crowded and abandoned hospital-turned-homeless shelter has become a testament to D.C. benevolence, ushering in an outpouring […]

Bill Moyers: Two New Films Address American Poverty

BILL MOYERS 03/10/13 By Michael Shank “One nation, underfed.” That’s the tagline for the new film out by Participant Productions, entitled A Place at the Table, which looks at America’s growing hunger epidemic. Participant Media, which produced Lincoln, The Help and Food Inc., does not disappoint with its latest take […]