- Joint Center

Spencer Overton

Spencer Overton is the President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which was founded in 1970 and is America’s Black think tank. Today, the Joint Center’s research shapes national discussions on the future of work in Black communities and congressional staff diversity. Spencer is also a tenured professor at GW Law, and he is the author of a book and several academic articles, think tank reports, and popular commentaries on race and public policy. Spencer held several policy leadership roles on the 2007-2008 Obama presidential campaign, on the Obama transition team, and as a presidential appointee in the Obama Administration. Spencer has also practiced law at the firm Debevoise & Plimpton, clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon J. Keith, and graduated with honors from both Hampton University and Harvard Law School.

spencer@jointcenter.org

Improving Training Evaluation Data to Brighten the Future of Black Workers

This report explores the current state of evaluation in workforce development programs with an eye toward improving outcomes for Black training participants. The report is important because increasing the…

Biden Should Prioritize Black Appointments to the U.S. Court of Appeals

President Biden should prioritize appointing Black judges to the U.S. Court of Appeals due to impending retirements. Currently, African Americans are 13% of the U.S. population, but only 10% of…

Joint Center Op-Ed: After Georgia, Senators Must Prioritize Staff Diversity

Sources: CNN, NYT, Cook & Joint Center.* After Black voters in Georgia enabled Democrats to control the Senate, Morning Consult published this commentary by Joint Center Senior Fellow of Diversity…

Pandemic Relief Priorities for Black Communities

By LaShonda Brenson Ph.D., Jessica Fulton, and Spencer Overton While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disproportionately harm Black communities in the United States, Congress and the Trump Administration have failed…

Questions on Market Power & Discrimination for Tech CEOs Testifying Before Congress

On July 29, the CEOs of four major tech companies—Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google/Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg—will testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee…

Kevin McCarthy Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives & Jeyben Castro

The Joint Center Commends House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for Appointing Jeyben Castro as Deputy Director of the U.S. House Office of Diversity & Inclusion

WASHINGTON — The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies commends U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for appointing Jeyben Castro as Deputy Director of the U.S. House Office of…