Let’s start with this staggering statistic: A couple working full time and earning $7.25 per hour cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country without spending more than the recommended 30 percent of their income, according to Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn in Tightrope.

In more refreshing news from Washington, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a revamped website on Climate Change Indicators last Wednesday, calling it a “comprehensive resource.” The Associated Press heralded the update, saying the site now “presents clear and compelling evidence of changes to the climate.” As we all recall, no new information was allowed to be posted on the site during the former administration, and the effects of climate change were regularly disputed and downplayed.

A new Pew Research survey was released yesterday that said that Americans believe that the government has broad responsibilities. This has not changed since 2019. The number of American adults who are "basically content" with the federal government is at its highest point since 2004. The public trust that the government will always or most of the time do what is right remains low, while confidence in the future has increased for Democrats since the election.

Nearly a third of all food produced in the United States is wasted. While this number is startling, in light of the fact that one in six children goes to bed hungry, it is also significant because of the effect that food waste has on climate change. When zero waste is achieved, and no food is sent to landfills, methane emissions and our carbon footprint are significantly reduced.

When President Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress last Wednesday night, he talked passionately about the importance of expanding educational opportunity by providing free preschool and postsecondary schooling. He pointed to research showing that two years of preschool and post-high school training expands a child’s lifelong learning and earning achievements…

Though the solutions to climate change require major disruptions in the current operations of large industry, our individual actions can still have positive effects on our personal and shared quality of life.

Pew Research released a study last week on the views of 5,109 Americans conducted April 5-11, 2021 regarding voting and election policies. While there were a few policies that both parties mostly agreed on, the majority of questions showed large partisan divisions. A few questions also displayed divisions within the party by race.

With May fast approaching, recent snowflakes notwithstanding, we look forward to spending more time outdoors enjoying the company of friends and family, all hopefully vaccinated. It has been a long hard winter – two long hard winters, in fact.

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri. She never knew her father. Her family was impoverished and when she was eight years old, Josephine began working as a live-in domestic maid for white families. By age twelve...

“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere…

In a survey released on March 17, 2021, Pew Research provided an analysis of survey responses to questions about Americans' views and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What does the term 'cancel culture' mean to you? Does cancel culture hold people accountable or is it a form of censorship?

First, we have two quick reminders: Hungry to Learn

Please make time to watch Hungry to Learn, a documentary about food insecurity on college campuses and the subject of our next kNOw MORE! discussion on Monday, March 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. EST

James Armistead Lafayette's story would make a great movie. Born into slavery in New Kent, Virginia around 1760, James received permission from his master, William Armistead, who helped to supply the Continental Army, to enlist with General Marquis de Lafayette's French Allied units. James, a native Virginian, became a spy, posing as a runaway slave. He was hired by the British, and he worked in camps where generals and the British Commander-in-Chief, Lord Cornwallis, were located, giving James access to crucial information on strategy and troop movements.

A new Pew Research Survey conducted from February 16-21 among 10,121 American adults shows that the majority of Americans plan on getting the COVID-19 vaccine or already have. The survey revealed that Americans are more positive about trusting the vaccine than three months ago, and believe that getting vaccinated will improve the economy.

Imagine you are checking out at your local store, and you go into your purse or pocket to pull out your wallet, and it isn't there. Anxiety and thoughts course through your mind. Where is my wallet? Did I drop it? What am I going to do? I have to replace my driver’s license, credit cards. How long will that take? This happened to Debra Crosby, a middle school science teacher and resident of Jacksonville, Florida recently. She didn't realize that she had dropped her wallet in the parking lot on her way into the store. As Debra was checking out at her local Walmart and found that her wallet was not in her purse…

Today is Inauguration Day, a day of new beginnings for our country. As we write this, we do not know if today’s transition of power will be peaceful, but we do know that by the end of the day there will be a new administration - one that promises more equity, more decency, and more compassion than the one that is leaving.

As Congress pursues impeaching the current president of the United States for the second time, and we look forward to the inauguration of a new administration that promises to operate with integrity and decency, we might feel encouraged and even optimistic.…

Leading Ladies stands with those throughout the country and the world who are appalled by the acts of the mob who breached the nation’s capitol after being incited by the current president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

As we write this, it looks very promising that the two Senate races in Georgia will go to the Democratic candidates. This will give the new administration of Biden and Harris a much easier time in addressing many of the causes that Leading Ladies support: homelessness, food insecurity, universal health care, equitable education, prison reform, and humane immigration laws. We rejoice in that good news…