The redrawing of legislative district boundaries. A 1967 federal law requires House members be elected from single-member districts that (within each state) have nearly identical populations. House maps must be redrawn after reapportionment but before the first congressional election of each decade, based on population changes in each state revealed by the census.
Across the country, families are prevented from accessing safe, stable, affordable housing—not by accident, but by design. Decades of exclusionary zoning, racial discrimination, and disinvestment have created a housing system that works well for the wealthy but leaves others behind. Even as federal cuts to public housing programs continue nationwide, powerful, community-rooted efforts are pushing back and offering real, equity-driven solutions led by local voices.
Historically, states like New Jersey show what’s possible when legal advocacy and grassroots organizing come together. In 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel ruling established that every municipality in the state has a constitutional obligation to provide its fair share of affordable housing. This landmark legal ruling reshaped housing policy and set a national precedent. Today, organizations like Fair Share Housing Center continue to defend and expand this right, ensuring that local governments are prohibited from using zoning laws to exclude working-class families or people of color.
Nationally, organizations like the Grounded Solutions Network are also leading the housing justice fight through community land trusts (CLTs), which help keep homes affordable by removing them from the for-profit housing market. In a CLT, a non-profit organization owns the land and the homeowner owns the building, ensuring that the home remains affordable for future generations, even as neighborhood prices increase.
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Community development financial institutions (CDFIs)—like the Four Bands Community Fund—are expanding access to homeownership in reservation land and Indigenous communities that have been long excluded from conventional financial systems. CDFIs operate in urban, rural, and tribal communities nationwide. They are mission-driven lenders that provide loans, financial services, and support to individuals who are often overlooked by big banks. They invest in communities based on relationships and people, not just credit scores.
These are not one-size-fits-all solutions, but they are grounded in a shared belief: that housing is not a privilege. It is a human right, and essential for a healthy, equitable future.
We know the impact of these resources firsthand because they helped us secure the futures of our families.
Fair Share Housing Center, Grounded Solutions Network, and Four Bands Community Fund helped us secure not just physical shelter, but emotional security. They allowed us to provide a sanctuary where our children could heal, grow and feel safe, and they enabled us to achieve our dreams of homeownership.
Through these experiences of loss and recovery, we understand that stable housing is foundational to everything else. Home is the space where memories are built and family traditions are created. Housing enables individuals to maintain steady employment, access healthy food, and lay the groundwork for building generational wealth. Above all, housing is health.
The connection between housing and health is not abstract. People living in overcrowded or unstable housing are more likely to experience asthma, chronic illness, and poor mental health. Children who move frequently or live in unsafe conditions are at higher risk for developmental delays and emotional stress. Pregnant women who face housing insecurity have worse birth outcomes. When housing falls apart, so does public health.
Stories of housing security achieved through local solutions despite systemic challenges are being written all the time. Across the country, families are building stability through grassroots programs that work. But instead of supporting these models, the federal government is walking away from its responsibility to ensure that housing is accessible to all.
Federal funding for housing programs is being slashed at a time when more families than ever are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Recent cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are projected to result in the elimination of tens of thousands of rental assistance vouchers and significant reductions in homelessness prevention programs. These choices aren’t just bad policies, they are a direct attack on the people who need support the most.
Community-centered housing justice groups like Fair Share Housing Center, Grounded Solutions, and Four Bands need investment. Community-based housing initiatives are often underfunded, overlooked, or burdened by red tape, even though they deliver real, measurable results. Meanwhile, billions of dollars are funneled into programs that benefit private developers or maintain the status quo. If policymakers are truly committed to solving the housing crisis, then it is time to fully invest in what’s working and trust the communities doing the work.
Our journeys are featured in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Housing Justice docuseries, “From Hope To Home.” Through these three short films, we share our own stories, and the stories of others like us, to lift up the real people behind the housing crisis and the grassroots solutions making a difference. These films aim to inspire viewers—not just to be moved, but to be motivated.
Access to housing should never be up for debate. It’s health care. It’s safety. It’s education. It’s the foundation for good jobs, stable families, and thriving communities. It’s time the policies reflected that truth. Let’s get to work.
Pope Francis is being remembered for his reformist stance that both challenged conservative elements within the Catholic Church and resonated with progressive movements. The 88-year-old Argentina-born pontiff passed away on Monday following a series of health complications.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church often shared his perspectives on various societal issues, including the relationship between faith and democracy. His tenure as pope was marked by a commitment to social justice, human rights, and the dignity of all individuals, which naturally intersects with democratic ideals.
In a social media message last December, marking Human Rights Day, Pope Francis again pleaded for governments "to listen to the cry for peace of the millions of people deprived of their most basic rights due to war," which, he said, "is the mother of all poverty."
While visiting the headquarters of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) on September 20, 2024, Pope Francis called for a fight against social injustices, reiterating his proposal for a Universal Basic Income and higher taxes for billionaires.
He warned that if there are no just policies ensuring access to land, housing, and fair wages, “the logic of material and human waste will spread, paving the way for violence and desolation.”
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“Unfortunately,” he added, “it is often the wealthiest who oppose the realization of social justice or integral ecology, out of pure greed.”
During an annual Roman Catholic Church convention on social affairs last year, Pope Francis expressed concerns about the state of democracy, highlighting that many individuals feel excluded, particularly the poor and vulnerable, who are left to navigate challenges on their own. He remarked, "It is evident that democracy is not in good health in today’s world," criticizing the growing polarization and partisanship observed in society.
Pope Francis likened ideologies to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, stating that while they can be appealing, they ultimately lead individuals to deny their true selves. He pointed out that this "crisis of democracy" is a shared issue affecting various countries worldwide.
Francis clashed repeatedly with President Donald Trump in recent years.
During the 2016 election, Pope Francis expressed strong criticism of Donald Trump's campaign proposal to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," Francis said.
Trump, who aggressively courted evangelical Christian leaders and voters during his campaign, fired back immediately, saying, "For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful," reported NPR.
In February, amidst the second Trump administration's efforts to tighten immigration policies, Pope Francis issued a rare public criticism of the president's approach. In a letter addressed to U.S. Catholic bishops, he referred to the mass deportation program as a "major crisis."
Francis wrote, "The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness."
President Trump announced he will attend Pope Francis' funeral, marking what would be his first international trip during his second term in office.
Editor's Note: Hugo Balta is the executive editor of the Fulcrum and a board member of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the parent organization of The Fulcrum. He is the publisher of the Latino News Network and a trainer with the Solutions Journalism Network.
Children on a museum tour with a guide.
President Trump proposed eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the entire staff was laid off on March 31, 2025. This is not the first time he suggested this as a cost-saving measure. His proposal was rejected in 2019, and it must be rejected again. The IMLS only accounts for 0.0046% of the federal budget, yet its impact is significantly greater, benefitting 1.2 billion people per year.
The IMLS supports a network of nearly 125,000 libraries and over 35,000 museums across all 50 states, in addition to the critical work they do in supporting the education and training of library and information students and professionals. As a professor of Information Sciences, I know how important the IMLS mission is and how important their funding is to communities across the country. I see its benefits to my students every single day.
Our libraries and other cultural heritage institutions are part of what makes America special—one might even say great. School and public libraries in communities across the country make literature and information accessible, as well as offer essential public services and support, including children's literacy programs and access to tax forms, and even serve as emergency communication hubs during natural disasters. Whether you simply have childhood memories of visiting museums on field trips or borrowing books or have made these cultural heritage institutions a part of your life in the longer term, libraries and museums offer so much to so many different people. The fact that libraries are everywhere and for everyone sets America apart from the rest of the world as exceptional in providing and prioritizing these resources.
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Generations of philanthropists have understood this, with many of the wealthiest Americans in history endowing and supporting libraries and museums. From the Carnegies to the Astors, to the Gates and Waltons today, they have recognized the importance of museums and libraries, donating to provide resources that support these institutions for generations. In doing so, they cement positive legacies to their communities and the public.
They are not the only people who have recognized that giving yields dividends and esteem. Presidents who build us up are remembered as great leaders. People liked Ike and history looks favorably on President Dwight D. Eisenhower for investing in America's highway system. As President Theodore Roosevelt said, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are;" as a lover of nature and with the power of the presidency, he offered future generations an incomparable national parks system. What will President Trump offer as a legacy?
In terms of what you can do, call or email your Senators and Representatives asking them to support IMLS and push back on this punitive cut. The American Library Association and American Alliance of Museums both offer scripts if you are not sure what to say. What matters is that you make it clear that libraries and museums in your communities are important to you as a constituent and to the country. As a parent who shares my lifelong love of reading and curiosity about art and culture with my daughter, I want to give her and future generations a better world with more opportunities. A world where if they learn and work hard, they can succeed. Libraries and museums play a key role in preserving and realizing that American Dream.
Support for libraries means that summer reading curricula for elementary students, book clubs, and programs for retirees can continue. Support for museums and archives means that American history can be preserved and cultural heritage can be protected. Support for IMLS means that educational programs can continue to train library and information science professionals and that curricula can be modernized. Please stand up for our libraries and museums.
Madelyn Sanfilippo is Assistant Professor in the School of Information Sciences, a Public Voices Fellow and a member of the 24-25 OpEd Alumni Project sponsored by the University of Illinois, and an Editor for Cambridge Studies on Governing Knowledge Commons.
Humans are using laptops and computers to interact with AI, helping them create, code, train AI, or analyze big data with fast, cutting-edge technology.
Huiyan Li
WASHINGTON – During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on April 9, Democratic representatives repeatedly raised concerns that President Trump’s new tariffs and attempts to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act would harm U.S. competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI).
“Republicans constantly talk about winning the AI race, but the actions they’re taking may appear as if they're purposely trying to lose that race,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.).
The U.S. remains at the forefront of foundational AI research, largely driven by its innovative tech industry and ability to draw top talent from around the world. However, experts cautioned that this lead is fragile and the gap is closing.
The January release of the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s R1 Model challenged the U.S.'s long-standing dominance in AI development, as the model rivals the most recent American reasoning models at only a fraction of the cost.
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO and chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project, stated that outcompeting China is not only an economic goal, but also a strategic imperative for America to “preserve American economic dynamism, military superiority, and global influence.”
Pallone, the ranking member of the committee, stated that Trump’s tariffs would increase the cost of materials the U.S. needs for the AI competition, such as steel and aluminum.
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Starting last month, the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum products from all countries, restoring Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Higher material costs could drive up expenses for building data centers and the transmission infrastructure that supplies electricity to them. The experts said these facilities are essential, and more should be built to advance AI.
Tariffs are already affecting AI-related industries. U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology announced on Tuesday that it would raise prices on some products starting Thursday due to President Trump’s new tariffs.
Manish Bhatia, executive vice president of global operations at Micron, was also on the witness panel. When Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) asked him about the price increases, he responded vaguely, saying, “Tariffs are an evolving situation.”
David Turk, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Energy under the Biden administration, stated that the tariffs imposed by President Trump introduced an immense amount of uncertainty that could deter near-term investment in powering AI.
“Folks who are planning data centers want certainty. They want stability of policy so they can plan on the floor. Tariffs are absolutely the worst if you want to bring on additional data and additional energy for data centers,” said Turk.
Turk added that Trump’s pledge to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides tax incentives, grants, and loans for clean energy, could discourage energy investment and drive costs even higher.
“We also need to be honest with ourselves right now. The quickest power, the most affordable power to bring onto our grids, including for data centers, is renewables and storage,” said Turk.
In 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that 93% of new electricity capacity additions would come from renewable sources (solar and wind) and energy storage.
As the U.S. prioritizes meeting the surging energy demand driven by AI, Turk said it was the wrong time to make it more expensive to bring new electricity online, urging Congress to retain these important tax grants and loan tools.
Some Republicans disagreed.
“We are not going to do it with renewables because we just don’t have the time to build all you have to build out, including the transmission lines,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) said.
Palmer noted that a significant number of power generation facilities in the U.S. were shuttered and dismantled; however, the transmission lines from those facilities still remain. He suggested that the quickest way to meet energy demand would be to deploy small modular reactors that can be plugged into the existing transmission infrastructure.
Schmidt, former CEO of Google, agreed that small modular reactors could be a good solution. However, he stressed that none exist yet in America, and under the current regulatory structure, it could take 12 years to get one approved.
“We need a new program around much faster permitting for safer and safer fission and fusion nuclear SMRs as the correct path,” said Schmidt.
Huiyan Li is a reporter for Medill News Service covering business & technology. She is a journalism graduate student at Northwestern University specializing in politics, policy, and foreign affairs.
