Dear John,

Welcome to the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). Thank you for your interest in our work to promote national and state policies that reduce poverty, promote economic security, and advance racial equity.

In this moment of opportunity and risk, we're excited to keep you informed of our progress advancing and defending anti-poverty policies. We work at all levels of government, partnering with advocates, on-the-ground organizers, and public officials who make policy decisions and lead implementation.

As a member of our online community, you’ll receive regular updates on our program work and policy initiatives through our bi-weekly newsletter, Recently from CLASP. We hope you’ll find our content useful and will share it widely with your networks.

At CLASP, we approach our anti-poverty mission with a “no-silver-bullet” philosophy. We understand there's no single solution; many systems need reform to help low-income families, workers, and students succeed. Core policy areas include child care and early education, workforce training and postsecondary education, job quality (such as paid family and medical leave and paid sick days), income and work support programs (like TANF, Medicaid, and SNAP), and youth policy.

We also have exciting, emerging work on health and mental health as well as criminal justice. And we bring a racial-equity lens to all our policy work that includes a focus on immigrants and their families.  

With 50 years of history, our work has never been more important. Two recent examples underscore our long-standing commitment to high-quality analysis and advocacy on behalf of low-income communities.

• CLASP is co-chairing a national coalition working to fight efforts to restrict immigrant families’ use of basic needs programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and housing assistance. Our Protecting Immigrant Families coalition has convenied hundreds of groups from the education, health, anti-hunger and anti-poverty, and faith communities to defend against these threats. We helped drive 200,000 public comments in response to the Trump Administration's proposed "public charge" rule.
• When the U.S. Census Bureau released its most recent data on poverty and income, we offered our analysis which paints a bleak picture of the continued economic struggles for low-income people, particularly children and young adults. Several major news organizations reported on the insights we offered, including the New York Times.

Bringing our expertise and deep knowledge of these important issues to policy advocacy at all levels of government is the hallmark of our work. We hope that our bi-weekly newsletter, Recently From CLASP, will be a valuable source of information and updates. You can also learn more about CLASP by visiting our website.

Thanks again for joining us as we work toward a more positive future for everyone. We invite you to stay connected to our work. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Yours,

Olivia Golden
Executive Director