Economic Opportunity

Native Forward receives a $50 million gift from MacKenzie Scott, one of the largest-ever donations to a Native nonprofit, aimed at boosting scholarships.

We are on the edge of an economic revolution, one in which local leaders in emerging communities are laying the groundwork for a new solidarity economy.

How can more eligible families fully use their WIC benefits? In this interview, Dani Lopez of Lulo shares how their tech platform is helping increase redemption, reduce waste, and ensure healthy food access with dignity.

Editor’s note: The paper summarized here is part of the fall 2025 edition of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, the leading conference series and journal in economics for timely, cutting-edge research about real-world policy issues. Research findings are presented in a clear and accessible style to maximize their impact on economic understanding and policymaking. The editors are Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellows Janice Eberly and Jón Steinsson. See the fall 2025 BPEA event page to watch paper presentations and read summaries of all the papers from this edition. Submit a proposal to present at a future BPEA conference here. Climate change is already imposing modest to significant costs on U.S. households, especially affecting poorer families and households in the Gulf Coast, Florida, and some parts of the West, suggests a paper discussed at the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA) conference on September 26. The paper examines some, but not all, costs of climate change under two different scenarios that vary in terms of what share of weather variability is attributed to climate change. “We find sizable costs to U.S. households from recent climate change patterns, ranging from $220 to $570 each year,” write the authors, Kimberly A. Clausing of the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law, and Christopher R. Knittel and Catherine Wolfram of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Clausing, in an interview with The Brooking Institution, said the less-conservative scenario may be “closer to the truth.” Under it, the authors write, 10% of counties “have annual household costs exceeding $880 … [and] there are large swathes of the country … where damages are concentrated and exceed $1,000 per household per year.” The paper focused on two types of climate change costs: the effects on household budgets and the effects on mortality from extreme…

Learn about the effects of Trump administration federal grant cuts on Georgia nonprofits and their ability to serve local needs.

Paid leave benefits protected workers against the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and helped fill a longstanding gap in U.S. social infrastructure.

Diaper Dollars, a nonprofit that gives families in need money to cover diaper expenses, could be a model for states looking to offer more solutions to the diaper need crisis.

Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon review SB 79, which will make it easier to build multifamily housing near major train stops and rapid bus lines.

Karen Washington of Rise & Root Farm knows that by putting power in the hands of the people, we can build strong, healthy communities.

Health care workers are well-positioned to lead the future of the U.S. labor movement and rebuild unions’ standing as a necessary force for all workers nationwide.

Aspen FSP’s Senior Policy Advisor Ray Boshara shares about his work to create a universal early wealth building policy in the U.S.

In urban areas, trees add value to a property, but it depends on where those trees are, according to new research.