Category Archives: Economic Accessibility

Illinois’ payday loan and consumer installment loan laws, the Consumer Installment Loan Act and the Payday Loan Reform Act (collectively referred to as CILA / PLRA), have taken effect. This is exciting news for a state that has "more payday loan stores than McDonald's," according to a 2004 statement...

Underbanked. Unbanked. These terms, collectively, refer to individuals in our society who have limited or no relationship with a traditional bank. Yet, because banking transactions—money transfers, paycheck cashing, non-cash payments, and small loans—are an essential part of modern life, those witho...

New Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle initially called for budget cuts of up to 21 percent, to combat a budget deficit of nearly 500 million dollars. In the last weeks of 2010, the Board president was still waiting for ideas from the Sheriff’s Office, the State’s Attorney, and the Clerk o...

The July 22nd issue of The Economist featured a cover story entitled "Rough Justice in America" that examines America's love affair with locking up its citizens. The article makes a compelling case lowering both the rate and duration of criminal sentences resulting in imprisonment and increasing res...