The Half Sheet

Racially restrictive covenants may no longer be legal, but Virginia as a whole, and its largest metro areas, continue to have high levels of segregation. The “index of dissimilarity” is one way to measure this, examining how people are distributed across a region compared to the distribution of another group of people. Comparing where Black, Asian, and Hispanic Virginians live to where white Virginians live shows the highest levels of separation for Black Virginians. But it shows some degree of segregation for Asian and Hispanic Virginians, too. 

Within the good news that Virginia’s unemployment rate is the lowest in eight years is the not-so-great news that one reason for the drop is that Virginia’s labor force has shrunk a bit. 

More than 1 of every 7 African-American Virginians and almost 1 in 5 foreign-born Virginians lack a high school diploma. With employers increasingly requiring a high school education just to get in the door, whether or not a diploma is truly required for the job duties, people who have not completed high school face significant challenges. When combined with the continued existence of employment discrimination, many adults in both African-American and immigrant communities face challenges finding jobs.

State funding cuts for higher education have increased tuition and mandatory fees at Virginia’s public universities, making college less affordable, and jeopardizing the ability of many students to receive the college education that is key to their long-term financial success and essential to growing Virginia’s economy.

A series of public hearings the state Board of Education is holding on the needs of public schools is an excellent opportunity for Virginians to tell the Board that cuts in support for education have hurt schools and kids and stand in the way of helping all communities to thrive.

A series of public hearings the state Board of Education is holding on the needs of public schools is an excellent opportunity for Virginians to tell the Board that cuts in support for education have hurt schools and kids and stand in the way of helping all communities to thrive.

Immigrants and African-Americans in Virginia face many of the same challenges, and there are critical state policy solutions that would make a big difference to both.

If the two percent pay increase for teachers is cut, Virginia will have missed yet another opportunity to make the investments that help kids thrive. And this failure will particularly sting as it will come in a budget initially celebrated for investing in education.

Virginia’s Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is costing taxpayers twice as much as initially thought, according to a recent report to the Joint Subcommittee to Evaluate Tax Preferences. 

Virginia’s lawmakers can and should make policy choices that increase the bargaining power of workers and build an economy that works for all. To pretend that it is impossible to do so is to ignore history.

Despite some fears and harsh rhetoric from politicians, including a raft of anti-refugee bills introduced during this last session of the General Assembly, refugees contribute to our country’s economy and make our communities stronger. Let’s not be the generation that turns our back on Lady Liberty’s promise.

More than 20,000 kids in Virginia may lack health insurance because lawmakers have refused to close the health care coverage gap for their parents. That’s because allowing more low-income adults to get health insurance also helps connect more low-income children with the coverage they’re already eligible for.