Center for American Progress

As global temperatures rise, cities in the Great Lakes region are adjusting to a new normal of more frequent and intense storms, heavy downpours, heat waves, and cold snaps. By far the hardest hit by extreme weather are those people in the region’s low-income communities and communities of color. The Center for American Progress has released a report analyzing steps that several Midwestern cities are taking to improve social equity and climate change resilience in these communities.

The world is pivoting toward clean energy as it unites to fight climate change. This creates both financial risks and opportunities: Some projects will become increasingly economical while others become increasingly costly or noncompetitive.

The Center for American Progress, the city of Cleveland and Cleveland State University will host a summit and dialogue on April 20 in Cleveland, Ohio, with Midwestern city and community leaders to discuss successful strategies to improve social equity and climate change resilience in low-income communities

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, released guidance on Monday for landlords and sellers on consideration of criminal records in housing, making it clear that blanket bans on renting or selling to anyone with a criminal record constitute illegal discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act. This measure will go a long way toward giving returning citizens and all Americans with criminal records a fair shot at securing safe and stable housing for themselves and their families. Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement in response

Today, the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, announced changes to its loan-level certification form to provide additional clarification to the mortgage industry while maintaining the ability to hold lenders accountable for serious underwriting errors. Some mortgage lenders asserted that the previous language was unclear and potentially held them liable for a slew of small underwriting errors in the case of a borrower default, while other lenders said that this lack of clarity may prevent them from originating FHA-insured loans in the future

In response to the decision announced tonight by the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily stay the Clean Power Plan pending litigation, Neera Tanden, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, released the following statement

The newly enacted Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA—which replaces No Child Left Behind—includes a number of key provisions that are aimed at addressing the problems with today’s testing systems in schools. The new law provides an opportunity for states and districts to move toward more coherent, aligned assessment systems that support student learning. There is a risk, however, that states and districts might not take advantage of this opportunity and might instead continue on their current paths

Matt Lee-Ashley, Senior Fellow and Director of Public Lands at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s proposed rule to cut methane pollution from oil and gas development on public lands

As the debate around the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, people in America’s faith traditions continues to grow, the Center for American Progress will host a discussion on building transgender-inclusive churches and synagogues and discuss the case for trans affirmation and welcome in communities of faith based on Scripture and theology.

Today, in Manchester, Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden joined local business leaders—Bill Whyte, CEO and founder of W.S. Badger Company Inc. in Gilsum; Howard Brodsky, chairman and co-CEO of CCA Global Partners in Manchester;Joseph Keefe, president and CEO of Pax World Management in Portsmouth; and Gary Hirshberg, chairman and former president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry—for a lunchtime conversation focused on making the economic and business case for quality child care, paid leave, and other policies that support families and strengthen the economy.

A new report from the Center for American Progress—released this morning at an event featuring U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro—illustrates the frequent mismatch between affordable housing and opportunity. The report, “An Opportunity Agenda for Renters,” calls for policymakers to address this problem with a two-pronged approach that both promotes residential mobility and reduces poverty, while also reinvesting in racially segregated and economically impoverished neighborhoods.