Economic Opportunity in Rural America, Reparations Task Forces, and More

August 7, 2023

A horse outside of a community building on the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota.

The Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) is a $1 billion effort funded through the American Rescue Plan Act to boost economic recovery across the country. Anthony F. Pipa and Zoe Swarzenski explore the extent to which the BBBRC includes rural areas, writing that its implementation offers an enormous opportunity to advance the knowledge base of how regional approaches can benefit—or disadvantage—rural places.

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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announces the members of the city's appointed reparations task force.

Boston’s Reparations Task Force is setting a precedent for other states to follow

“Massachusetts led an embryonic country in establishing and legalizing the institution of slavery. Now its capital city can provide leadership for the rest of the country to follow to atone for that generational injury.” In a recent op-ed, Andre M. Perry and Jordan Fields discuss Boston’s efforts to address the city’s historic wrongdoings and current racial disparities in health, wealth, income, and homeownership.

Read in The Emancipator

Students walk down a stairwell in a school.

State funding methods influence schools’ spending decisions

When it comes to school finance, researchers have mainly focused on how much money schools and districts receive. But what about the mechanics behind how those amounts are determined? Does that matter and does it change school district behavior? Chad Aldeman unpacks these questions by looking at approaches from Washington and California.

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