Economic JusticeRichmond, Virginia—Progress Virginia and the Virginia Coalition for Progressive Values will host a press conference to discuss the status of several vetoed pieces of legislation. The press conference will feature remarks from legislators, as well as stories from people whose lives were personally impacted by the legislation. Focus areas will include minimum wage, paid family […]
Economic Justice
Press Release
Multimillionaire Governor Says Working Families Don’t Deserve $15 An Hour
Richmond, Virginia—Virginia is slowly becoming a better state for workers, and Governor Glenn Youngkin is not going to stand for that. On Thursday, the Governor, who divides his time between his state-funded lodgings at the Governor’s Mansion and his 30-acre ranch in the wealthy DC suburb of Great Falls, vetoed life-changing legislation that would have raised the minimum wage […]
Press Release
Governor Youngkin’s Tax Plan: More Money For His Rich Friends, Higher Costs For Everyone Else
Richmond, Virginia—Working families in our community would pay more for everything from a bar of soap to their Netflix subscription under Governor Youngkin’s tax package, while the top 1% of earners would enjoy a nearly $10,000 tax cut. Today, we’re celebrating that the Senate Finance Committee saw through the Governor’s campaign rhetoric and voted SB […]
Press Release
Historic Minimum Wage Increase Passes General Assembly, Moves to the Governor’s Desk
Richmond, Virginia—In a victory for working families, SB1, sponsored by Senator Louise Lucas, passed the House of Delegates today The bill increases the minimum wage to $13.50 this year, and $15 an hour starting in 2026. SB1 will now move to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s desk for a signature. Youngkin, who travels between the Governor’s Mansion […]
Press Release
Historic $15 Minimum Wage Increase Will Include Farmworkers For The First Time
Richmond, Virginia—Today, we moved closer to pay equity and racial justice when the Virginia Senate voted to remove the exemptions that excluded farmworkers from earning the minimum wage. HB157, sponsored by Delegate Adele McClure, narrowly passed the Senate by a vote of 20-19 and will move to the Governor’s desk for a signature. The exemption […]
News
When Did Glenn Youngkin Last Buy His Own Groceries?
Here’s something that will no doubt shock you: Glenn Youngkin hasn’t met very many people who make minimum wage. In fact, he thinks minimum wage workers barely exist: he told the reporters that he believed employers pay the minimum wage only in “very rare circumstances”and that he thought a minimum wage hike wasn’t necessary. After […]
News
4 Reasons Governor Youngkin’s Tax Plan Sucks For Regular People and 1 Thing We Can Do To Fix It
by Ashleigh Crocker Our lame-duck Governor, Glenn Youngkin, wants one more chance to help his super-wealthy friends by completely readjusting the tax code in Virginia. The only problem? It completely sucks for people who make normal amounts of money and aren’t super wealthy like the Governor and all his pals. Here are four reasons why […]
News
Almost Every Other Country Has Paid Family & Medical Leave: Why Don’t We?
Here’s a story about me: when my son was born, I was back at work four days after going into labor. I was working at a job I adored, with a lot of very tight deadlines, and that played into my decision to go back so fast. But also, I knew that if I took […]
News
Housing Justice for Tenants
By Kierra Johnson Renters’ crises, infrastructure issues, and displacement due to rising costs and gentrification were major issues across the U.S. before the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, we are still in a crisis and it seems that the losses that landlords took during the first year of the pandemic have compounded and come down on tenants […]
News
Rental Hikes Should Take a Hike
By Kimberly R. Nario WTF is up with rising rents? In March of 2023, an affordable housing crisis was declared in Richmond. Paired with the fact that Richmond has the second-highest eviction rate in the country, to me it feels like something is rotten in the state of Virginia. Since 2020–you know, the year everything […]