Rebecca Vallas, a leading policy expert and advocate for economic justice, today re-launched the Off-Kilter podcast in partnership with The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank that Vallas joined as a Senior Fellow earlier this year. The podcast, which has become a must-listen for progressive policymakers, advocates, and journalists inside the Beltway and across the nation, focuses on poverty and inequality—and everything they intersect with.
Closing in on its 200th episode, Off-Kilter is a weekly podcast where Vallas is joined by experts, activists, policymakers, journalists, and grassroots leaders to break down the issues of the day in economic justice and discuss avenues to effect progressive change. The first episode, out today, focuses on the ongoing fight for disability justice more than 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), leading with a conversation with Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), followed by a panel discussion with trailblazing disability rights leaders Judy Heumann, Rebecca Cokley of the Ford Foundation, and Mia Ives-Rublee of the Center for American Progress’s Disability Justice Initiative.
“In a nation as wealthy as the U.S., poverty has long been a political choice. Yet too often our public narratives frame an off-kilter economy that only works for the wealthy few as an inevitable condition. Off-Kilter is a platform for pulling back the curtain on critical public policy debates, elevating the solutions we need, and uplifting the voices of brilliant thinkers, innovative advocates, and marginalized communities who are most impacted by our policy choices,” said TCF senior fellow and Off-Kilter host and creator Rebecca Vallas. “I’m excited to continue the Off-Kilter journey as part of theTCF family.”
New episodes of Off-Kilter will be released weekly on Friday mornings. Upcoming episodes will cover topics such as the housing crisis, the ever-growing case for guaranteed income, the care economy, how the media covers poverty and inequality, and more. New episodes, along with written transcripts, will be available at https://tcf.org/off-kilter, as well as on the Progressive Voices Network, the We Act Radio network in D.C., local radio stations across the U.S., and on Apple podcasts and other streaming platforms. Follow along on Twitter at @OffKilterShow and subscribe at bit.ly/off-kilter.
“Podcasts have become an integral political communications tool for engaging policymakers, informing the public, and changing hearts and minds—and Off-Kilter is one of the best out there,” said TCF President Mark Zuckerman. “I’m thrilled to welcome Rebecca and Off-Kilter—and all the dynamic, inspiring people she’ll bring along the way—to the TCF family.”
Vallas joined TCF after seven years at the Center for American Progress, during which she helped to build and lead CAP’s Poverty to Prosperity Program, in a range of roles, including as the program’s first policy director, and later as vice president. During her time at CAP, Vallas also launched CAP’s Disability Justice Initiative—the first disability policy project at a U.S. think tank—and helped to establish the organization’s criminal justice reform work.
Much of Vallas’s policy and advocacy work flows from her years as a legal aid lawyer. In partnership with her legal aid alma mater, she co-developed the “clean slate” model of automated, automatic criminal record-clearing that is now law in Pennsylvania, Utah, and Michigan and advancing in additional states. Forever a legal aid lawyer at heart, Vallas spent several years representing low-income individuals and families at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, where she began her work as a Skadden Fellow.
Over the years, Vallas has authored dozens of policy reports on antipoverty policy, income security, disability policy, access to justice, and criminal records/reentry policy; developed an array of bold new ideas leading to state and federal policy change; and testified before Congress and state legislatures on numerous occasions. Vallas serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is a member of the Academy’s 2020–2021 Economic Security Study Panel. She was twice named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” for law and policy, and later to Emory University’s “40 Under 40.”
Acclaimed Poverty and Inequality Podcast, Off-Kilter, Hosted by Rebecca Vallas, Comes to TCF
Rebecca Vallas, a leading policy expert and advocate for economic justice, today re-launched the Off-Kilter podcast in partnership with The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank that Vallas joined as a Senior Fellow earlier this year. The podcast, which has become a must-listen for progressive policymakers, advocates, and journalists inside the Beltway and across the nation, focuses on poverty and inequality—and everything they intersect with.
Closing in on its 200th episode, Off-Kilter is a weekly podcast where Vallas is joined by experts, activists, policymakers, journalists, and grassroots leaders to break down the issues of the day in economic justice and discuss avenues to effect progressive change. The first episode, out today, focuses on the ongoing fight for disability justice more than 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), leading with a conversation with Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), followed by a panel discussion with trailblazing disability rights leaders Judy Heumann, Rebecca Cokley of the Ford Foundation, and Mia Ives-Rublee of the Center for American Progress’s Disability Justice Initiative.
“In a nation as wealthy as the U.S., poverty has long been a political choice. Yet too often our public narratives frame an off-kilter economy that only works for the wealthy few as an inevitable condition. Off-Kilter is a platform for pulling back the curtain on critical public policy debates, elevating the solutions we need, and uplifting the voices of brilliant thinkers, innovative advocates, and marginalized communities who are most impacted by our policy choices,” said TCF senior fellow and Off-Kilter host and creator Rebecca Vallas. “I’m excited to continue the Off-Kilter journey as part of theTCF family.”
New episodes of Off-Kilter will be released weekly on Friday mornings. Upcoming episodes will cover topics such as the housing crisis, the ever-growing case for guaranteed income, the care economy, how the media covers poverty and inequality, and more. New episodes, along with written transcripts, will be available at https://tcf.org/off-kilter, as well as on the Progressive Voices Network, the We Act Radio network in D.C., local radio stations across the U.S., and on Apple podcasts and other streaming platforms. Follow along on Twitter at @OffKilterShow and subscribe at bit.ly/off-kilter.
“Podcasts have become an integral political communications tool for engaging policymakers, informing the public, and changing hearts and minds—and Off-Kilter is one of the best out there,” said TCF President Mark Zuckerman. “I’m thrilled to welcome Rebecca and Off-Kilter—and all the dynamic, inspiring people she’ll bring along the way—to the TCF family.”
Vallas joined TCF after seven years at the Center for American Progress, during which she helped to build and lead CAP’s Poverty to Prosperity Program, in a range of roles, including as the program’s first policy director, and later as vice president. During her time at CAP, Vallas also launched CAP’s Disability Justice Initiative—the first disability policy project at a U.S. think tank—and helped to establish the organization’s criminal justice reform work.
Much of Vallas’s policy and advocacy work flows from her years as a legal aid lawyer. In partnership with her legal aid alma mater, she co-developed the “clean slate” model of automated, automatic criminal record-clearing that is now law in Pennsylvania, Utah, and Michigan and advancing in additional states. Forever a legal aid lawyer at heart, Vallas spent several years representing low-income individuals and families at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, where she began her work as a Skadden Fellow.
Over the years, Vallas has authored dozens of policy reports on antipoverty policy, income security, disability policy, access to justice, and criminal records/reentry policy; developed an array of bold new ideas leading to state and federal policy change; and testified before Congress and state legislatures on numerous occasions. Vallas serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance and is a member of the Academy’s 2020–2021 Economic Security Study Panel. She was twice named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” for law and policy, and later to Emory University’s “40 Under 40.”