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This report was written for WVCBP by Rayna E. Momen, MA. Introduction Over the past 40 years, the mass incarceration of women has exploded in West Virginia (WV), growing by a staggering 2,731 percent from 1978 to 2019. Female incarceration has grown so quickly, in fact, that women are being incarcerated at a higher rate…

Over the past 40 years, the mass incarceration of women in West Virginia has exploded, growing by a staggering 2,731 percent from 1978 to 2019."But the reasons more women are going to prison in WV have less to do with rising crime and more to do with social drivers (like poverty and substance abuse), and…

Mountain State Spotlight, Beckley Register-Herald - To have even a chance of getting a cell signal, Tabitha Wyatt used to balance her phone on her porch banister or bathroom windowsill. Read the full article. She and her family live in Russellville, an unincorporated community in Fayette County. Wyatt now relies on her internet service to…

West Virginia University is currently facing a $45 million budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year, expected to balloon to $75 million annually by 2028. During this year’s State of the University address, WVU President Gordon Gee pointed to several factors driving the shortfall including declining college-aged population, lower college-going rates, and rising financial costs. But one major factor was glaringly…

This report is the seventh in an annual series that examines the state of West Virginia’s economy as it impacts working people. Each year, we examine the latest available data on employment, income, productivity and job quality as well as the immediate economic challenges and opportunities. Read PDF of report. The themes have varied from…

Earlier this month, the West Virginia Senate passed two bills that would drastically change the state's unemployment insurance system and will now be considered in the House of Delegates. SB 2 would reduce the number of weeks a worker can collect unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to as few as 12 weeks. SB 3 would…

In order for West Virginia to successfully address food insecurity during the response to COVID-19 and throughout the economic fallout of the pandemic, Congress should immediately increase the maximum SNAP allotment by 15% for all SNAP households. While the House of Representatives’ recently introduced HEROES Act includes this increase in food assistance, it stops short…

We at the WVCBP are closely monitoring the evolving federal budget process and its potential impact on critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP. House leadership recently delayed key committee markups on the budget package, including in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. These markups are now expected next week, the week of May 12. That…

Some lawmakers are claiming West Virginia’s prevailing wage overpays construction workers and inflates the costs of public construction projects, but the evidence does not support these claims. Ending the state’s prevailing wage is likely to have no impact on public construction costs but could hurt the living standards of construction workers and the competitiveness of…

Every day in West Virginia, thousands of low-income families rely on public child care assistance. In 2011, the West Virginia Child Care Program – which is funded primarily through the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and state matching funds – provided financial assistance to more than 24,000 children whose parents…