Economy
April 10, 2020 -
The Southeast Crescent Regional Commission was created in 2008 to provide economic development assistance to Black Belt states but has never received its full appropriation from Congress — even while its counterpart covering whiter, richer Northern states has. With Black Belt communities being ravaged by the pandemic, it's past time for action.
April 9, 2020 -
The rural South's health care system was struggling even before the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has brought hospital and health clinic closures as well as worker furloughs.
April 3, 2020 -
The South has the nation's highest rate of unbanked people, a population that's always economically vulnerable. It's especially true in the time of coronavirus.
April 2, 2020 -
Many states and local communities in the South have ordered restaurants to move to takeout-only to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus, and business is down even in places where they're still open. That means tough times for low-wage food servers, especially given the stingy unemployment benefits offered in some states.
March 27, 2020 -
With the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic forcing Americans to work and study from home, access to high-speed internet is critical — but in the South far fewer people have access than providers report, and many states have erected barriers to community networks.
March 19, 2020 -
The global coronavirus pandemic lays bare the existing problems in health care systems that were already stretched to the breaking point.
February 20, 2020 -
Raising Wages NC held a people's hearing about the difficulty of living under North Carolina's $7.25 hourly minimum wage. Workers shared their stories of hardship and called on elected officials and candidates for state office to support a wage hike.