Mechele Dickerson

Wealthy families are buying homes to get in-state tuition at Texas universities The practice has been accepted by public universities across the state. The law has fed a growing industry of families buying condos in cash, holding onto them for a couple years and then selling to t...

Lower- & middle-income families can't afford to buy homes in Austin & can't always afford the full cost to attend UT (neither are problems for rich Texans). Rich out-of-state families have found a loophole to get in-state tuition AND keep housing costs high near campus. www.kut.org/education/20...

Parents are struggling to find good jobs & reasonably priced care for their kids. US fertility/birthrates are at historic lows. The gov't says it wants more young adults to have kids, but is trying to gut convenient & affordable after-school & summer programs. Make it make sense. t.co/MdNlwTHvyk

Pew Applauds Texas Lawmakers for Passage of Much-Needed Housing Legislation WASHINGTON—The Pew Charitable Trusts today commended the Texas Legislature and Governor Greg Abbott (R) for enacting a suite of seven bills passed with bipartisan support and designed to improve housi...

On a mostly bipartisan basis, the Texas Leg just made it easier for cities to create smaller homes & multi-family units in mixed-use developments even if there's NIMBY opposition. It’s not perfect but it's at least a start to respond to the affordable housing crisis. www.pew.org/en/about/new....

HB 27 - 89th Legislature Regular Session Relating to courses in personal financial literacy and economics for high school students in public schools.

Young adults need stable/good paying jobs to be financially stable, but kudos to Texas legislators for passing (on a bipartisan basis) legislation to require a course in financial literacy & help young people hopefully avoid stupid financial decisions. www.texaspolicyresearch.com/bills/89th-l....

Opinion | Stop Trying to Make Everyone Go to College

Rather than gut public education by eliminating the Dept of Ed or pushing private school vouchers, political leaders should support career and technical education programs that prepare students for in-demand middle-class jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/o...

Most Americans don't earn enough to afford basic costs of living, analysis finds The bottom 60% of U.S. households don't make enough money to afford a "minimal quality of life," according to a new analysis.

The ideal of the American dream of upward mobility if you work hard & follow the rules doesn’t match the current reality. Middle-class families are struggling to make ends meet & their children may be even worse off than they are. Politicians: where are you? www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of...

How Tiny Homes Could Solve a Big Problem for Los Angeles As L.A. rebuilds homes lost to wildfires, accessory dwelling units have emerged as a win-win solution for homeowners and city planners.

City leaders must radically rethink their land use policies or America's middle class will forever struggle to find affordable housing (to rent or to buy). Tiny homes/ADUs can be both short- and long-term housing fixes. www.inc.com/sarah-sicard...

How a new Infrastructure Academy could help meet Austin workforce gaps, deliver high wages Mayor Watson, ACC and Workforce Solutions' Infrastructure Academy will launch with a career fair Wednesday to help meet Austin's high demand for jobs.

To save the middle-class, all cities should consider creating an “Infrastructure Academy” that partners with unions & community colleges to provide skills training & child care that will prepare non-college workers for careers that pay living wages. www.statesman.com/story/news/e...

The cover for this book is green (representing money) and has a a faint vertical ladder in the background that represents upward mobility. The ladder leads to horizontal 4 separate pictures of a piggy bank, diploma and mortarboard, house and two people shaking hands. The pictures represent the markers of the middle class (savings, a college degree, homeownership, and having a good job) and what is generally viewed as the American Dream of success.

At long last, my book that explores why so many lower/middle-income people struggle to become & remain middle-class will be published in early 2026. Given current economic trends & political realities, I’m sadly confident that this book will be relevant for the foreseeable future.

Like @dalie.bsky.social, I'm excited to attend the @brooklynlawschool.bsky.social symposium & discuss my forthcoming book for the very first time with an amazing group of scholars!

Registration and full agenda here: www.brooklaw.edu/news-and-eve...

How a South Texas community college embraced apprenticeships to ease a growing nursing shortage South Texas College in McAllen launched one of the first registered nursing apprenticeships in the country as area hospitals expect the need for nurses to increase.

Apprenticeships use an “earn-while-you-learn” model to give young workers skills (but no crippling student loan debt) to help them get middle-class jobs. This apprenticeship program also helps alleviate a critical “Texas-sized” nursing shortage.

www.texastribune.org/2025/02/17/t...

Small Single-Stairway Apartment Buildings Have Strong Safety Record Policymakers could increase the supply of multifamily housing in their states and localities by revising outdated building codes that require more than one stairway in small apartment buildings. If en...

To increase the supply of affordable housing, cities must review all building codes to ensure regulations (for ex. 2 required stairways in buildings 3 floors+) are still needed given safety features (like sprinklers & fire-rated walls) mandated in new buildings.
www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-...

Hundreds of Philly IRS workers laid off on Thursday, union says Hundreds of Philadelphia IRS employees were laid off on Thursday as part of the Trump administration's efforts to cut down the size of the federal workforce, a union leader confirmed with NBC10.

These firings are going to gut the middle-class workforce. Lots of reasons the IRS is targeted. But let's not ignore that of the roughly 90,000 employees nationwide: non-Whites constitute 56% and women are 65%

www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/p...

When middle-class federal workers were furloughed during the 2018-2019 gov't shutdown, many had to borrow from friends/family, sell things on eBay, or use GoFundMe just to make ends meet. Can't even imagine what they'll have to do if they are fired on (cruelly) short notice.

About 3 weeks after the Nov 2024 election, I started viewing political announcements using this lens of “will this make things easier or harder for lower- & middle-income families to become and remain middle class?” Harder is still winning by a landslide.

Hebrew. I was a 17 year old Black girl from Memphis who had never had a close Jewish friend but had a 17 year Jewish roommate from NYC. I oh so didn't want to say anything offensive & thought (correctly) that this course would help. Best course ever.

I am thankful I am not spending Thanksgiving being forced to enter into agreements “not to discuss” the things that matter most to me.

I have been viewing most recent political "announcements" using this lens: will this make it easier or harder for lower- & middle-income families to become and remain middle class. So far harder is winning by a landslide.