AspenEPIC

October 15, 2019
Aspen FSP program manager Katherine Lucas McKay joins Matt Yglesias of Vox’s “the Weeds” podcast to discuss the origins and consequences of America’s ballooning student loan debt.

Managing Director of Aspen’s Financial Security Program Joanna Smith-Ramani joins Petal Card’s Co-Founder and CEO Jason Gross to explore some of the problems surrounding access to credit.

In November 2017, EPIC hosted a private convening that brought together a group of experts across multiple sectors to discuss the multi-faceted issue of consumer debt. 

According to an Urban Institute study, one in four American families are hit with unexpected disruption in income every year. For some, this volatility exists year-to-year, others see it as much as month-to-month or week-to-week. In this post, Tishaura O. Jones, Treasurer of the City of St. Louis, Missouri, discusses income volatility in her city and her work with EPIC’s Finance Forward series.

In May 2016, we launched the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC). The initiative grew out of a recognition that the financial challenges facing Americans today are evolving in an increasingly complex, unpredictable economy and labor market. More than ever, there is need to shine a light on these challenges and the ways in which they undermine household financial security. The ultimate goal of each EPIC round is to build leadership committed to identify and implement solutions that will improve the financial lives of millions of people.

This new EPIC research brief enhances our understanding of the connections between income swings and family outcomes for hourly retail workers.

When and how workers get paid is an untapped opportunity for building financial security.