Biden-Harris White House Appointments: The Biden-Harris transition announces several Black staff taking on key White House roles, including Danielle Conley (left) as Deputy Counsel to the President, Joelle Gamble (second left) as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, Amijah Townsend-Holmes (second right) as Press Assistant, and Elizabeth Wilkins (right) as Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff.

Biden Treasury Leaders Janet Yellen and Wally Adeyemo meet with CDFI and MDI CEOs: The meeting of the President-elect Joe Biden’s picks to be Treasury Secretary and Deputy Secretary with CEOs of Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions covered additional stimulus money for CDFIs and other issues to ensure expanded banking and lending services in communities of color. Attendees included Lisa Mensah (Opportunity Finance Network), Brian Argrett (City First Bank), Bill Bynum (Hope Credit Union), Donna Gambrell (Appalachian Community Capital), Calvin Holmes (Chicago Community Loan Fund), Inez Long (Black Business Investment Fund), and Darren Williams (Southern Bancorp). Earlier this year, the Joint Center spoke with one of the meeting’s attendees, Opportunity Finance Network CEO Lisa Mensah, to discuss the role of CDFIs in supporting Black-owned businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.

Vilsack meets with Black farm advocates including Shirley Sherrod: Agriculture Secretary-designee Tom Vilsack virtually met with a group of Black rural advocates, including Shirley Sherrod, a civil rights icon who Vilsack wrongly terminated while he was Agriculture Secretary during the Obama Administration. Sherrod indicated that she “holds no ill will” toward Vilsack.

“What Will It Take to Get a Black Woman on the Supreme Court?” The New Yorker explores this question, and asserts that the answer is connected to the Georgia U.S. Senate run-off.

Voting News

Georgia’s influence grows: African Americans have composed 48 percent of the increase in the eligible voter population in Georgia since 2000, according to Pew Research, a demographic shift seen as key to President-elect Biden’s narrow victory there in the presidential election. With a run-off election on Jan. 5 for two seats that will determine control of the Senate, Georgia is being tagged as an emerging battleground state in elections. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) expresses his concern that run-off elections suppress Black representation and should be discontinued.

COVID-19

Unemployment spikes: With rising coronavirus cases, initial unemployment claims spiked to 885,000 for the week ending December 12. The pre-pandemic initial weekly claims record was 695,000, set in 1982.

Vaccine skepticism and Black women: With only 42 percent of African Americans telling Pew Research they would take a COVID-19 vaccine, a group of scientists, doctors, and educators is working to build confidence about the vaccine in Black communities. Black women are considered key to inspiring trust, though one poll finds that only 19 percent of Black women in Massachusetts were willing to be vaccinated as soon as possible, compared with 36 percent of Black men.

Trusted sources: A study reveals that African Americans consider the Black church a reliable source of COVID-19 information, underscoring the potential of these community institutions to help overcome vaccine resistance in Black communities.

Coronavirus behind bars: Black women are much more likely to suffer the fear and anxiety of having a loved one behind bars with coronavirus, a new report shows. African Americans compose 40 percent of the U.S. incarcerated population, and one in two Black women has a family member in prison.

Economic Policy

Financial worries grow: The moratorium on evictions set to expire on Dec. 31 is a bigger threat to Black and Latina/o tenants. Recent census data shows that 40 percent of Black and 35 percent of Latina/o renters have no or slight confidence in their ability to pay rent (vs. 21 percent of white renters). In further signs of struggle, Black and Latina/o adults in early December were more than twice as likely as white adults to report that their household didn’t get enough to eat (22 and 21 percent respectively vs. 9 percent), according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Meanwhile, NPR looks at how some higher-income households are struggling financially during the pandemic.

Housing insecurity grows: Black women are at higher risk for housing insecurity due to the pandemic’s economic fallout, a new report shows, with 27 percent of Black women spending more than half their income on rent and 49 percent spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent.

Poverty surges: Real-time poverty estimates track a sharp spike in recent months (to 11.7 percent). Black Americans saw the sharpest increase, with poverty rates reaching 21.3 percent by November.

Support the USPS: The U.S. Postal Service is a critical service and a good employer for workers without a Bachelor’s degree, particularly for Black workers, who make up almost one in four postal workers, and the Economic Policy Institute calls for its expansion for the good of the American public.

Future of Work & Learning

Job mobility needed: Noting the higher unemployment rates for Black and Latina/o workers during the pandemic, the Brookings Institution advocates for more economic relief and stimulus to restore full employment and economic activity. Brookings also calls attention to the pandemic-related challenges facing HBCUs and urges Congress to reform higher education institutions, workforce training systems, and collective bargaining structures.

Workplace of the future: Six in ten Americans think COVID-19 changed the way we work for the better, according to the Forbes Human Resources Council. The council offers five tips to re-imagine the workplace post-COVID: 1) accelerate the digital transformation; 2) create better employee experiences; 3) embrace a hybrid work environment; 4) master virtual events; and 5) revisit creative cost containment and benefits.

Tech Policy