Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

The Center for Law and Social Policy advances policy solutions that center gender and racial equity to improve the lives of children and families with low incomes. Our research, analysis, and advocacy emphasize the inextricable link between systemic racism and poverty in America and center people of color. We develop and pursue practical and visionary strategies for ending poverty, promoting economic opportunity, and tackling structural and systemic barriers faced by economically marginalized groups.

Through robust and original research, analysis that centers racial justice, and effective advocacy, CLASP develops and promotes new ideas, mobilizes advocates, and directly assists governments to put in place strategies that deliver results that matter.

State allies can call on CLASP to:

Help strategize and support advocacy on their state's early childhood system.

CLASP can help states defend and improve state early childhood policies and state child care investments and has expertise in designing and implementing existing policies to equitably expand access to quality care for families with low incomes.

Counsel advocates on racial equity and support for the unique intersectional challenges faced by children in immigrant families.

CLASP's broad racial equity expertise and deep child care and early education and immigrant family policy knowledge make them an in-demand provider of technical assistance on how to improve equity in state early childhood policies, with specific expertise in data, disciplinary practices, immigrant families, equitable community engagement strategies, and state policy options.

Support advocacy planning and the equitable implementation of policies at the state level that provide family supports including Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, WIC, tax credits, and paid family and medical leave.

CLASP has deep expertise in both federal and state policy in these areas and can help states formulate agendas and strategies for building family economic security. CLASP also regularly convenes state CCDF and PFML administrators and advocates to share learnings from each other’s experiences and provide information.

On the Ground:

In Kentucky, CLASP helped advocates understand the federal CCDF rules related to spending and analyzed data to help make the case for the way that certain dollars were allocated within the program in the state. This knowledge and data helped advocates successfully advocate for the investment of the resources that they knew would have the most impact.
For California, CLASP gathered and shared examples of family copayment scales across a variety of states and shared federal rules and corresponding flexibility of copayment policies to help advocates craft their strategy to successfully reduce and eliminate copayments for families utilizing CCDF.
CLASP helped New Jersey advocates and state partners understand current and historic state spending trends of TANF dollars toward pre-k expenditures. This knowledge helped partners develop advocacy strategies in their state.