African Americans have been pummeled by the recent financial crisis, including facing the most adverse consequences of credit card debt and higher interest rates, according to a recently released study by the NAACP and Demos, a U.S.-based research and policy center. Findings from “The Challenge of Credit Card Debt for the African-American Middle Class,” indicate that Black Americans suffered disproportionate economic losses since the Great Recession, weathering the highest jobless rates, steepest declines in income and deepest cuts into their assets and investments.

Silicon Valley has long pressed for change, and this year could bring a fix. Support is growing for a new startup visa that would let foreign-born entrepreneurs work with fewer hurdles. Talks are on in Washington about safeguarding the visa against fraud and phony companies, and ensuring that it would go to startup founders that look solid and might create jobs. Right now, there is bipartisan support for it. But the startup visa would likely get rolled into comprehensive immigration reform, and that path is unclear.