Author

Dustin Pugel

Dustin Pugel

Dustin Pugel is policy director at the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, where he focuses on economic security, health policy and safety net programs while providing strategic support for all of the organization’s policy campaigns. He joined the staff in 2015. Dustin previously worked for BUILD in Lexington, where he trained congregations to identify, research and advocate for policy solutions on a local level. He also spent two years providing policy research assistance for the Commonwealth Council on Developmental Disabilities. He has a BA in History from Asbury University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Kentucky.

Commentary

Child care in Kentucky is at risk of collapse as federal pandemic funding runs out
By: - June 26, 2023

High quality, affordable child care is essential for kids to learn, parents to work and the economy to prosper. But for years, families have struggled to find and afford care, which can cost more than college tuition, even as the industry’s largely female workforce subsists on extremely low wages. Recent influxes of federal pandemic funding […]

Commentary

Shorting state workers’ pay hurts us all
By: - March 14, 2023

Last year, the General Assembly provided the first meaningful raise to workers in state government in 14 years by providing an 8% cost of living adjustment. Though that increase was welcome, and helped keep state employees from feeling the worst inflation in decades, it was not nearly enough to correct a decade and a half […]