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With the 2020 Presidential election now behind us, we’ve been busy thinking about what needs to come next -- not just undoing the harm of the past four years, but going further to create an effective and anti-racist system of income and work supports that helps all people with low incomes meet their and their families’ basic needs while respecting their agency and human dignity. We look forward to learning about your priorities and partnering with you. Of course, in the short term, we’re angry and frustrated that the Senate still hasn’t passed another COVID-19 relief package, and that 12 million jobless workers are facing an unemployment benefit cliff at the end of the month. We’ll keep fighting for inclusive relief in the Congressional “lame duck” session this month as well as in 2021.
We are pleased to share that Jessi Russell (they/them) has joined our team as a Research Assistant! Jessi is a recent graduate of Wesleyan University, with a double major in English and political science. Prior to joining CLASP, they founded a large-scale mutual aid fund for first generation, low-income (FGLI) students evicted, displaced, or otherwise concerned for their financial wellbeing because of COVID-19, ultimately raising and redistributing over $375,000. Jessi was also a Zero Hunger Intern at RESULTS where they supported members in advocating for COVID-19 relief. Raised by their grandmother in Southern Appalachia, their award-winning honors thesis combines archival, oral, and political histories, critiques of contemporary public policy, and elements of memoir to tell a scathing, but singular, story of intergenerational poverty in East Tennessee, with a focus on the anti-Black history of benefits programs that built an exclusive, disproportionately white middle-class. Welcome Jessi!
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