Washington, D.C., September 24, 2026 — Seventy percent of Americans struggle to afford at least one basic need, including housing, food, health care, or child care, according to the new Family Economic Well-Being Index released today by the Georgetown Center on...
Archive: Press Release
Lelaine Bigelow Named 2025 Aspen Ascend Fellow
The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality (GCPI) is proud to announce that Executive Director Lelaine Bigelow has been selected as a 2025 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow.
The Aspen Ascend Fellowship brings together a diverse, cross-sector cohort of leaders who are reimagining and reshaping systems to improve well-being for children, families, and communities. Since its founding in 2012, the Fellowship has built a network of more than 180 changemakers nationwide who are advancing bold solutions to foster intergenerational mobility and opportunity.
As an Ascend Fellow, Lelaine will focus on advancing a policy agenda that centers women of color in efforts to combat poverty—not as an afterthought, but as a powerful and strategic pathway to lasting economic well-being for all families. This focus builds on her leadership at GCPI, where she has championed research-driven solutions to address poverty and inequality.
GCPI Welcomes New Policy Experts to Tackle Urgent Threats & Improve Economic Well-Being
Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality (GCPI) welcomes a new Faculty Advisor and seven new staff and fellows who bring deep expertise across labor, tax, cash, housing, care, and digital equity. As economic insecurity grows and key protections come under threat, this expanded team will advance bold, evidence-based solutions that support working families and promote racial and gender equity. GCPI is growing to meet the moment—delivering actionable ideas to ensure people can meet their needs, care for their families, and live with dignity.
Early Childhood Educators Need Equitable Support, Investments in Navigating Changing Workforce Regulations
New report sheds light on racial equity implications of additional credential requirements for educators of color.
Lelaine Bigelow Named New Executive Director of Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality
The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality announced that Lelaine Bigelow—a changemaker and advocate for racial, gender, and economic justice—will serve as the next Executive Director.
Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality Becomes Two Distinct Centers
For nearly ten years, the Center on Poverty & Inequality has housed two initiatives: the Initiative on Gender Justice & Opportunity and the Economic Security & Opportunity Initiative. Given the unique focus of each initiative, the respective efforts have restructured as standalone Centers, enabling future growth of their work
GCPI Co-Executive Director Indivar Dutta-Gupta Stepping Down to Lead the Center for Law & Social Policy
After nearly eight years with GCPI, including five as the founding leader of GCPI’s Economic Security and Opportunity Initiative, Indivar Dutta-Gupta (Indi) will step down to lead the Center for Law and Social Policy.
Progressives to Congress: Cutting Incomes of 30 Million Americans During Pandemic Risks “Economic Calamity”
Emergency benefits are critical lifeline for families and are keeping economy afloat; Cutting benefits would be “attack on black and brown workers” Progressives: Extend the full $600 with no cuts, tie to unemployment rate so support continues until crisis ends ...
Progressive Group Leaders to Congress: Major Federal Intervention Needed to Meet Scale of Crisis; Congress Must Put People Ahead of Corporations to Save Economy
Washington, DC – Today, leaders of progressive research, policy, and advocacy groups released the following statement calling on Congress to move quickly to pass a robust legislative package that meets the scale of this crisis. The leaders laid out four specific...
New Reports Tackle Gender and Racial Bias Embedded in the Tax Code
The tax code in America was largely written by and for a small number of powerful and wealthy white men. These laws comprise a set of hidden rules that help shape our economy in ways that exacerbate or mitigate gender and racial equality. Three new reports by the National Women’s Law Center—in partnership with the Groundwork Collaborative, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality—investigate the many ways that our outmoded tax laws reflect the elite’s worldview, experiences, and biases at the expense of women, people of color, and low-income families and offer solutions to harness the tax code as a tool for equity.