Update
Reflecting on Progress, Preparing for the Fight Ahead
12. 19. 2024
The end of the year is a time for gratitude, and while November gave us much to reflect on here at Economic Security Project, 2024 also delivered many wins to celebrate together. We reached huge milestones like the successful launch and expansion of IRS Direct File, hosted our biggest Guaranteed Income Now conference to date with keynotes from Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Rx Kids Founder Dr. Mona Hanna, and launched our Public Options for America Fund, which is mainstreaming bold ideas like public grocery stores as a way to provide affordable grocery options to families amidst soaring costs. At the same time, the election a few weeks ago serves as a stark reminder that we are in a generational fight—progress is not linear, and setbacks often accompany steps forward.
Our mission to build an economy where everyone can thrive has never been more urgent or central to the future of our multiracial democracy.
We enter 2025 focused on boosting incomes to help families make ends meet, lowering costs by ensuring essential goods and services are accessible and affordable, and future-proofing communities from major economic shocks. Americans are struggling under the weight of an affordability crisis that has its roots in over four decades of putting the interests of the few above the many. While enacting economic relief that people can feel and delivering on the promise of the American Dream is just one piece of how to get our country on track, it’s an essential one.
We see promise and potential in what we accomplished just this past year. We grew bipartisan support for the expanded Child Tax Credit, with both presidential candidates embracing and making it a major issue on the campaign trail. At the state level, we helped secure five new Child Tax Credits, including a robust $150 credit in Illinois—bringing the total number of states with improved, expanded, or new Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits to 20 over the last two years alone. Collectively, these improvements are putting an additional $3.3 billion a year back in people’s pockets! We also expanded our thinking on how to deliver more cash to people by championing the launch of IRS Direct File, a free public tax filing option. When fully implemented, Direct File will save Americans $11 billion in filing fees and time costs and deliver up to $12 billion in missed tax credits every year. Although the tax prep industry is spending big to derail Direct File, the pilot received overwhelmingly positive participant feedback and is an important proof point of government effectiveness and efficiency.
Our work went beyond policy wins, focusing on seeding big ideas to reshape markets to work for people. The launch of ESP President Natalie Foster’s book, The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy, boldly asked us to imagine a future where people’s basic needs like housing, healthcare, education, and more are guaranteed—sparking nationwide conversations about what’s possible when we put people at the center of our economic policy. Our Public Options for America Fund is a vehicle for challenging corporate power in key markets like housing, healthcare, and childcare by giving Americans more economic choices. Our work with public grocery stores in Illinois has already inspired local leaders in other states like Georgia, Kansas, Wisconsin, and New York, proving that good ideas can take root and grow in communities across the country. We also convened a series of conversations with experts nationwide on AI, understanding that how we shape AI and the digital economy in the years ahead will either usher in a period of economic prosperity or further entrench concentrated wealth and power.
We’re proud of our work this year but know that the road ahead demands even more boldness. Decades of capitalism without guardrails have eroded the American dream. Wages have stagnated, housing, groceries, and healthcare costs have skyrocketed, and the social safety net has been gutted—all while corporations and billionaires consolidate more power and wealth. People are justifiably angry and frustrated with a status quo that feels rigged against them—a fact President-elect Trump and his allies recognized and capitalized on.
To meet this moment, we must offer a clear and compelling alternative. That means pairing bold policies that address people’s immediate economic concerns with a long-term vision for an economy that delivers for all working people. In the year ahead, we’ll use big moments like the 2025 tax fight to build an accountability narrative for federal legislators setting the foundation for 2026, double down on policymaking in the states to deliver real, tangible change to people, with an emphasis on our affiliated states Illinois and California, and invest in multi-year narrative strategies to make the case for our policy agenda to new audiences through a values-based framework lifting up new validators and refreshed messages.
ESP is built for this fight. We were founded mere weeks after President-elect Trump’s first election—not as a direct response to his presidency but because we recognized then that the existing economic agenda of both parties was insufficient to address the deep-rooted, historical inequality in our economy. This allowed us to challenge conventional wisdom on what was possible for our economy and to push for bold ideas like guaranteed income. At the time, the idea of giving people cash, no strings attached, was unheard of by most Americans. Today, over 150 GI pilots in 35 states have helped thousands of people from all walks of life—parents, artists, foster youth, students, and more–get the breathing room they need to build the lives they’ve earned. What will be the next big idea to spread and transform how we think about what we all deserve?
Our playbook is powerful and effective, and we’re ready to do our part. The challenges ahead are great, but so is the opportunity to build something better—an economy that truly delivers for everyone. Thank you for standing with us, believing in that vision, and working to make it a reality.