Read the new report: North Carolina’s Student Debt: Dimensions of a Crisis

“Finding a Fix” will premier Thursday, August 29th @ 7:00pm. Learn more here.

A new study by the Center for Racial Equity and Education or CREED finds that students of color have diminished access to resources that affect their success – including advanced coursework, experienced teachers and the racial/ethnic matching of students and educators. Those factors not only impact how a student feels about their K-12 education, it can rob children of their full potential. James Ford is the executive Director of CREED and co-author of the study E(Race)ing Inequities: The State of Racial Equity in North Carolina Public Schools.

Democratic lawmakers in the North Carolina House and Senate are once again pushing for Republican leadership to consider gun-safety legislation in the aftermath of last week’s tragic mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. State Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham County joins us to discuss the two bills she is advocating for: House Bill 454 (Allow ERPOs to Save Lives & Prevent Suicides) and House Bill 86 (Gun Violence Prevention Act)

Read: Durham County District Attorney’s Office Six-Month Progress Report

Suzanne Miller of NC Families for School Testing Reform joins us to discuss the controversy surrounding a multi-million dollar contract awarded by the State Superintendent to test children’s reading skills. Miller also discusses the testing landscape as families get ready for a new school year.

In no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a worker earning the federal minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom rental home working a standard 40-hour work week. In North Carolina, a worker would need to earn about 17 dollar an hour to afford that same two-bedroom apartment. In reality, more than 1-in-4 North Carolina households are cost-burdened, and pay at least 30% of their income for housing. We recently sat down with Samuel Gunter, executive director of the NC Housing Coalition to discuss the findings of a new national report, appropriately titled Out of Reach.