Lily Roberts is the managing director for Economic Policy at American Progress. Her work focuses on raising wages; combating economic inequality linked to race, gender, and geography; and building wealth and stability for American families. At American Progress, her work involves coordinating staff and policy teams around legislative priorities, such as protecting access to food and health care cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill. She has previously managed teams focused on antipoverty policy and women’s issues while at American Progress. Roberts has appeared on CNBC, NPR, and Politico to discuss economic justice and the labor market, consulted with researchers for “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver, and testified before Congress.
Prior to joining American Progress, Roberts worked at Mathematica Policy Research, where she researched federal strategies to support low- and middle-income families.
Roberts received a master’s degree in social work, focusing on community development, from Case Western Reserve University. Her undergraduate degree in military history and English is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Roberts has served as a case manager at a Washington, D.C., social services nonprofit and was previously an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Shaw.