The Quiet Shift That Could Redefine Who Gets To Go To College
“As federal borrowing limits tighten, policymakers and colleges must confront a basic question: Will higher education remain a pathway to mobility, or become increasingly reserved for families with wealth?“
As the United States continues in its 250th year, another question has to be asked: what would it mean to repair the systemic conditions that Black women are too often forced to endure, navigate, and transform for generations?
This question sits at the heart of Making Joy Possible, a new poll from The Highland Project, brilliant corners Research & Strategies, and Springboard to Opportunities focused on Black women voters in Mississippi.
The findings are clear. Black women in Mississippi are deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country and the economy. Nearly nine in 10 are dissatisfied with the country’s direction, and 90 percent say economic conditions are getting worse. A majority say their wages are falling behind the cost of living, and 44 percent say they experience racism and discrimination often. And still, 75 percent say they are highly motivated to participate in the 2026 midterms.
The poll also tells a deeper story: Black women in Mississippi know what wholeness requires, what is breaking it—and what must be repaired.
I’ve long been interested in the relationship between power and policy, and few scholars have shaped that conversation more than Kimberle Crenshaw, who coined the terms intersectionality and Critical Race Theory. In her new memoir, Backtalker, Crenshaw reflects on the origins of those ideas, how they’ve been distorted in public debate and why Black women remain central to any honest conversation about economic justice. In this conversation, she talks about the limits of race neutral approaches, the ways Black women are left out of policymaking and why she decided to tell this story now.
New polling shows Black women are asking for economic policies that prioritize dignity and financial security.
“Black women understand that success is holistic. It is spiritual. It is relational. It is grounded in family, faith and the ability to live without constant financial strain. That is not a narrow definition of well-being. It is a fuller one than many of our public policies are designed to recognize.” – Aisha Nyandoro
The MMT is an initiative from Springboard to Opportunities, a non-profit organization that Aisha Nyandoro, from Mississippi, co-founded in 2013. Springboard works directly with families who live in federally supported affordable housing in Jackson. Nyandoro calls it a “radically resident-driven approach”.
But by 2017, Nyandoro became concerned that Springboard wasn’t moving the needle enough on poverty. Though the organization has after-school programs, workforce development, reading circles and other programing, she started wondering what else they needed to offer.
A chance conversation with a mother put her on a new path.
Mississippi is one of a dozen states where the end of the school year can mean the start of a serious food shortage for families who depend on school meals, due to state leaders opting out of a federal program meant to feed hungry kids when they’re home during the summer. Springboard to Opportunities is helping to close that gap with direct cash assistance for families after the state again opted out of the SUN Bucks program.
Policy choices have real consequences for families — and while community-based solutions can support when systems fall short — the real solution is sustained, federal support: hunger does not fall on state or party lines.
