Even as the economy reopens, workers and families are facing rising costs because of global disruptions and inflation while still facing challenges that predated the COVID crisis.
A recovery may be underway, but it has yet to reach every person in our state.
It has left undone the work of dismantling systemic barriers to opportunities facing Black, Indigenous, and other people of color that resulted in disproportionate harms from the pandemic and that keeps all North Carolinians with low incomes from stability and well-being in the economy today.
Join the NC Budget & Tax Center for the 2022 Economy for All lecture to hear from national leader Taifa Smith Butler of Demos about the work ahead to advance policies with people’s input and experiences at the center and secure more fully our multi-racial democracy.
Taifa's remarks will be followed by remarks from North Carolina leaders Marcus Bass with NC Black Alliance and Fernando Martinez with United for a Fair Economy, to provide their wisdom and perspective as we consider the NC context.
Register now.
About the Presenters
Taifa Smith Butler is president of Demos. Before joining Demos in 2021, she spent nearly a decade at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute where, from 2015 to 2021, she led and inspired the GBPI team as its president and CEO. She is an established leader known as a problem solver and tireless champion for equity.
Marcus Bass is deputy director of the NC Black Alliance and executive director of the political strategy and advocacy group Advance Carolina. He has spent the past decade organizing issue-based campaigns and leading citizens to harness their power to create change.
Born in El Salvador, Fernando Martinez began organizing young adults, throughout the catholic church, in the late 80’s during the country's civil war. In the 2000's, he moved to the US and continued his fight for social and economic justice playing different roles in community-based organizations in New York, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, North Carolina and the national Dignity in Schools Campaign. Among many issue-based campaigns, Fernando has led county and statewide campaigns against the school-to-prison and deportation pipeline, immigrant, refugee and workers rights and protections.