EARNCon Session: A fairer economy: Uniting unions, advocates, policy groups, and local communities to fight for progressive policies

Confirmed Speakers (More to come!)

• Lindsey Baker (Moderator), Missouri Budget Project
• Mel Borja, The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
• Sana Shah, Connecticut Voices for Children

Session Description

EARN groups recognize that economic inequality has been rapidly increasing for the past several decades and our states’ regressive tax systems are a key contributor to economic injustice. However, states’ economic policy decisions are often controlled by the wealthy, who utilize political and economic influence to increase their wealth. In order to advance economic justice, it is necessary to form strategic partnerships among the majority of us who have not shared the economy’s gains. We all wield different types of power, and by building effective partnerships, EARN groups will be able to fundamentally reform the revenue structure and provide support to working families and boost public investment that would inject hundreds of millions of dollars into our chronically underfunded public systems of education, health care, and social services. These policy changes would benefit all working people who rely on a robust public sector as a lifeline to vital services and a source of living wage employment. In particular, women and workers of color would stand to gain the most from increased public investment and tax reform, as these residents have borne the brunt of austerity policies and our upside-down tax structure over the last few decades.

In this session, panelists will highlight how to build a successful advocacy plan by forming partnerships that lead to an effective “inside” and “outside” strategy to challenge longstanding austerity approaches, expand working families’ power over the state budget by enacting progressive tax reform, and to win dramatic investments in working-class communities.