Equity Research Cooperative

08/03/2026

Higher education is a working-class and blue-collar issue. 🛠️📚

Most college students aren't at elite private universities—they are over 25, studying at local community colleges or trade schools within 30 miles of home while balancing work and parenting. Yet, our current system forces working people to take out compounding student loans just to keep up with changing jobs.

Imagine trying to travel to a new city, but the only option is leasing a broken-down car (a student loan) on a toll road whose prices keep rising. When the car breaks down, you still owe payments.

Free College is public transportation. It's a public guarantee that gets everyone to their destination—covering tuition, housing, food, and books.

Did You Know?
🆓It takes just 1% ($100B) of the federal budget to make college free nationwide.
💸America already spends $141 billion a year on higher ed—we just need to spend it on grants instead of debt!
📈Eliminating student debt would inject $1 trillion into GDP growth.

It’s time to stop funding debt traps and start investing in working families, factory workers, service workers, and communities of color.

👉 Read our new policy primer by Dr. Jalil Bishop and get involved today
https://www.equityresearchcooperative.org/work

05/20/2026

In this blog, Jonathan C.W. Davis, our director of research, argues that artificial intelligence will not usher in the prosperous future that Big Tech claims. At least, not for all of us.

Jonathan draws on Derrick Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well and Karen Hao's Empire of AI, among other sources, to contend that Big Tech's aggressive pursuit of artificial general intelligence (or, AGI) through resource extraction, exploitative labor practices, and a "follow the leader" tool development approach mirrors past colonial empires where resources, wealth, and power accrued at the top.

But, we can change that trajectory to align more fully with justice and equity. It is not set in stone.

We must act now and take collective action to bring forth a future where we all prosper.

By standing united, we can reshape the path forward through three vital pillars:

Advocacy: Rising up against exploitative labor, land, and data practices to uplift alternative, community-owned technologies that truly serve local needs.
Technical Supports: Demanding platforms and safeguards that bring transparency to the hidden costs of AI development, ensuring data privacy and environmental protection.
Deepened Research: Building upon the crucial work of scholars who expose the racial, gendered, and environmental harms of current generative AI, pushing instead for tools that center our shared humanity.

Explore how the Equity Research Cooperative is engaging in this vital work, and learn how we can co-create a digital future that honors community, safeguards our environment, and celebrates collective progress.

By Jonathan C.W. Davis

03/31/2026

Check out our Instagram Post Celebrating Women's History Month by highlighting Women-Led Freedom Dream Partners!