Laura Barrett
Laura Barrett is the executive director Interfaith Worker Justice.
Administration’s Assault on Workers Continues in Congress
A proposed 20 percent reduction to the Department of Labor's overall budget would make working people less safe, and will discourage them from speaking up when abuses happen.
Organizing Will Win
For anyone who organizes and advocates for worker justice, the last months of 2016 felt like an unmitigated disaster. But even as we begin...
Our Denial and Inaction On the Issue of Lead
How far does the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) denial about leaded drinking water go? This week, I was having...
Fracking Waste and Drinking Water, A Toxic Combo
Environmentalists have succeeded in making fracking, renewable energy, safe water, and climate change part of the presidential campaign. Hillary...
Flint: Tainted Choices, Tainted Water
Like the water itself, the situation in Flint, Mich., should be crystal clear: elected and appointed officials, at the state and federal levels, have done...
A Community is Organized, But Where’s Superfund?
It’s probably the worst Superfund site in the U.S.: a smoldering fire in a mismanaged landfill is less than...
EPA Should Make Environmental Justice Job One
The EPA is making news lately. Unfortunately, it’s not for protecting the environment or victims of pollution. Activist groups,...
Breaking Up the Pipeline to Prison
President Obama is doing more than speaking out for criminal justice reform, he is taking action.Earlier this week, President...
Local Hire: Popular and Controversial
In March, USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx began moving toward fully implementing “Local Hire,” a new, year long model program...
A Bigger, Better Vision for the Left
What would full employment look like? Minority contractors, pastors, and faith leaders flew to the Capitol last week to...
Cut the Red Tape – Local Hire Needed
Last month, USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx announced a new, year long model program to test innovative local hire policies....
Needed:Â A Fair Way to Fund Infrastructure
As most people's opinion of Congress as a do-nothing body continues to grow, some members, like Senators Orrin Hatch...
Keeping an Optimistic, Yet Watchful Eye on the Ball
It looks like President Obama and his administration kept most of the great ideas explored with the Grow America Act, last year's transportation initiative. The total investment is increased to $478 billion and expanded to six years in the latest iteration of the budget released yesterday. A few of the best pieces for low-income communities […]
Homegrown Solutions To Inequity in Ferguson and Beyond
The debate about Ferguson continues: The grand jury decision is unfair to many; policing practices seem discriminatory and dangerous; and local court systems have been shown to prey upon low-income people. The sheer scope of the problems can be overwhelming. But let’s take a step back. Richard Rothstein’s “The Making of Ferguson“ links some modern […]
Jobs and More Jobs:Â Organizing’s Economic Impact
In the report, “Jobs and More Jobs: The Economic Impact of Community Organizing,” Gamaliel community organizers add up $13 billion worth of public and private programs that faith, community, and labor leaders worked to create or save through their advocacy efforts in 2012-13, employing nearly 460,000 people. Using commonly accepted economic formulas to measure the […]
Moving Toward Solutions in Ferguson
Over the past few weeks, many news accounts have laid bare questionable—and perhaps criminal—police behavior and the subsequent and continuing protests by concerned citizens in and around Ferguson, Mo. On a single day, September 10th, at least three protests happened—one at the state capitol, one outside St. Louis City Hall, and one near Ferguson (a thwarted highway sit-in […]
The Roots of #Ferguson
The situation in Ferguson, MO continues to be volatile, news cycle after news cycle. A second young person, a Howard...
Answers from Red States for Our Broken Criminal Justice System
Left, right or center, few dispute that our criminal justice system is broken. But two new and thrilling victories this month are giving real hope...
Jobs/Transit, Hope on the Horizon?
With all the gridlock in DC, it seems impossible that anything fruitful or significant can really happen. But a few...
President Obama Could Be Doing More for Unemployment
In January, U.S. Rep. John Conyers and seven other Congress members created the Full Employment Caucus, with the goal...