Families and Workers Fund announces $25 million commitment to advance good jobs
Coalition of diverse philanthropies aim to help spur the growth of jobs that provide economic security and upward mobility for all
November 9, 2021 – Press Release
Washington, D.C. – The Families and Workers Fund announced today a $25 million commitment to advance good jobs—its largest financial commitment to date. The Fund’s Executive Director Rachel Korberg made the announcement at the Department of Commerce’s Interagency Convening on Equitable Economic Growth, which brought together leaders from across government, business, and the nonprofit sector. “Today is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance jobs that not only sustain families and workers, but also uplift them and spur greater opportunity for all – especially those who have been most locked out of that opportunity,” Korberg said.
“A competitive and equitable economy runs on good jobs,” said host of the Convening Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves. “When diverse workers, families, and communities thrive, the American economy thrives.”
The Families and Workers Fund’s $25 million commitment will focus on people of color, young people, women and caregivers, and those in lower-paying, precarious, or rapidly-changing jobs. The funding will be used to make grants to nonprofit organizations advancing a more equitable workforce, quality jobs, and/or greater access to upwardly mobile career pathways; provide support to state and local pilots; build partnerships with businesses and investors also committed to advancing good jobs; and launch a new Good Jobs Champions group.
The Good Jobs Champions group will be convened by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, in partnership with the Families and Workers Fund, and with members from policy organizations, philanthropies, investors, employers, and the worker movement. The initial goal of this diverse group is to develop a framework for quality jobs that includes equity as a key component and combines best practices from the existing evidence and broad range of frameworks currently in use across business, government, and the nonprofit sector. This could ultimately be used as an input into decision making and strategy for stakeholders ranging from investors to employers, philanthropies, and governments.
Early members of the Good Jobs Champions group include:
- The Aspen Institute
- Bloomberg Beta
- Center for Law and Social Policy
- The Families and Workers Fund
- Good Jobs Institute
- Jobs with Justice
- The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
- JUST Capital
- Lafayette Square
- National Domestic Workers Alliance
- Optimax
- PolicyLink
- Prudential Financial
“The Aspen Institute is thrilled to convene the Good Jobs Champions group in partnership with the Families and Workers Fund,” said Maureen Conway, Vice President and Executive Director of the Economic Opportunities Program at the Aspen Institute. “By working quickly and collaboratively as an intentionally diverse group of leaders with differing points of view, we hope to identify and amplify strategies, policies and ideas that can improve job quality and encourage leaders at all levels to act.”
“Technology companies have been successful in part because of how they invest in many of their employees,” said Roy Bahat, head of venture capital firm Bloomberg Beta. “If every employer could treat their people that well, and if technology companies could treat all their people that well, we’d have a better economy. The Good Jobs Champions group will create a framework that will be good for both our society, and for business.”
“The future of work is care – these jobs are not being taken by robots – and yet jobs in the care economy are not family-sustaining jobs that will support the care infrastructure we need for the future. The National Domestic Workers Alliance is excited to join the Good Jobs Champions group because we believe every worker deserves respect and dignity, no matter what kind of work you do or where you work, and especially the workers who take care of us in our homes” said Palak Shah, Executive Director of NDWA Labs and Social Innovations Director at NDWA.
“We believe improving job quality and workplace benefits are fundamental building blocks to a stronger and more inclusive American economy,” said Don Baylor, Jr., Managing Director of Services and Co-Head of Community Impact at investment firm Lafayette Square. “We are honored to join the Good Jobs Champions group and look forward to collaborating with other mission-aligned members on solutions to create economic opportunity for all.”
The Good Jobs Champions Group looks forward to announcing additional members in the coming weeks.
The Families and Workers Fund is a coalition of diverse philanthropies working to help repair and reimagine the systems that fuel economic security, opportunity, and mobility. Specifically, through deploying funding and building partnerships, the Fund seeks to advance jobs that sustain and uplift people and invest in the development of a more inclusive, effective public benefits system, with a focus on unemployment insurance.
For more information and updates, contact info@familiesandworkers.org or visit familiesandworkers.org.
CONTACT
YK Vandekamp – Director of Philanthropy & Operations
yk@familiesandworkers.org