Staff at Public Policy Associates (PPA) are driven to make a positive difference within their policy areas of expertise, subjects ranging from criminal and juvenile justice, education, workforce development, and healthy communities. Even in their time away from the office, you can find staff reading, listening to, and seeking out the voices and opinions of others knowledgeable of or impacted by public policies.
The following is a list of books and films on topics related to food justice, homelessness, and education. These selections do not necessarily reflect the views of PPA, but rather illustrate how staff seek out a myriad of voices and perspectives on their policy areas of expertise.
Food Justice
Urban Roots. This movie captures the ongoing and inspiring story of Detroit and urban farming. You can learn more about this movie and local food movement here.
Gather. A film about the growing food sovereignty movement amongst Native Americans. More information on this film can be found here.
Dolores is the story of Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the first farm workers union and tirelessly fought for racial and labor justice. More information can be found here.
Homelessness
Evicted, by Mathew Desmond. In this groundbreaking book, Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee and their fight to avoid being thrown from their homes. It is a modern-day vision of the tragedy of poverty in the United States and provides policy recommendations related to affordable housing. More information can be found here.
Education
A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, by Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire, begins with the history behind the struggles in American education and then looks to the future and the policies that could make a difference for our children, and our children’s children. More information can be found here.