Biography
Dave Kamper is senior state policy coordinator for the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at EPI. He believes that worker power and racial equity are necessary components to a healthy democracy. His work focuses on the Midwest, helping to bring together policy thinkers and grassroots leaders to build collaborative relationships that empower communities in America’s heartland to obtain the justice they deserve.
Prior to joining EPI in 2021, Kamper worked for 20 years in the labor movement in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Minnesota, most recently for the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE). He is Board Chair of the New Brookwood Labor College and is part of the editorial collective of The Forge, a journal of organizing strategy and practice. He writes regularly on labor issues for progressive publications.
Kamper lives in Minnesota with his wife, Joanne, a veterinarian who sometimes operates on lions and tigers.
Education
M.A., Ph.D., History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.S., Labor Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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New data show that state and local governments still have not spent a majority of American Rescue Plan funds: Important opportunities remain to invest in public services
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Counties have far more unspent ARPA fiscal relief funds than cities and states: Funds should be used to make equity-enhancing investments
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The end of the pandemic public health emergency largely doesn’t change how state and local governments can use ARPA fiscal relief funds
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State and local governments have spent less than half of their American Rescue Plan fiscal recovery funds: Recovery funds should be used to rebuild the public sector
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Two years later, American Rescue Plan funds are still a transformative resource: State and local governments—particularly in the South—should invest unspent funds in workers, families, and communities
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Workers are 46% more likely to make below $15 an hour in states paying only the federal minimum wage
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State and local governments should use ARPA pandemic funds in 2023 to rebuild the public sector and support working families and children
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What’s at stake for state and local governments in the year-end government funding negotiations
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Tying minimum-wage increases to inflation, as 13 states do, will lift up low-wage workers and their families across the country
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Putting Minnesota’s record-low unemployment numbers in context
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State and local governments have made transformative investments with American Rescue Plan recovery funds in 2022: A tighter focus on working families and children will have the greatest impact going forward
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Much has changed since the first May Day, but building worker power and combating racism and xenophobia remain just as important
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One year in, the American Rescue Plan has fueled a fast recovery: Policymakers should use remaining ARPA funds in 2022 to make transformative investments that will build a more equitable economy
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New U.S. Treasury final rule supports state and local spending for an equitable economic recovery
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States are sitting on American Rescue Plan funds that could help against the Omicron variant
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Preempting progress in the heartland: State lawmakers in the Midwest prevent shared prosperity and racial, gender, and immigrant justice by interfering in local policymaking
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Few Midwestern states are providing premium pay to essential workers, despite American Rescue Plan funding
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A century after the Battle of Blair Mountain, protecting workers’ right to organize has never been more important
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State and local American Rescue Plan funds should be used to support an equitable recovery for workers
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As Arkansas and Missouri see a rise in COVID-19 cases, more economic protections are needed
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Illinois extended unemployment benefits to school workers in the summer, and Minnesota should follow suit