For 32 years, JWJ has focused on organizing people and money in order to build power and economic security for workers, their families and communities. For the last several years, JWJ has been advocating for policies that help women and people of color gain access to high-quality construction careers (paying, on average, $26 an hour) from which they have historically been excluded. In the process, women and people of color gain skills to use their voices to build power and increase the economic security of themselves, their children and their communities. We have done so by leveraging our broad relationships and bringing together partners who are often siloed from one another. We are using the voices and stories of women and people of color who have already benefited from high-paying construction jobs to challenge partners from across the community development value chain who don’t often work together – national foundations, local foundations, labor unions and local community organizing groups – new constellations of actors who could advance community economic development in a new way.

Stories featuring Jobs with Justice Education Fund

The Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community Phase II sought to find and foster the most effective and innovative strategies to accelerate social and economic mobility for working families with low incomes. To do so, we elevated the voices and expertise of families with lived experience, were guided by 14 advisors, and we brought together 20 …

Innovations Abound to Advance Family Prosperity Read More »

Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation CommunityMay 3, 2023
Poverty is the result of poor policy choices. These choices reflect our national values and decide who deserves access to opportunity to achieve their dreams and who does not. This flawed mindset has led to persistent inequities and a hollowing of our shared humanity. Change is possible. The choice is ours.
BlogNovember 2, 2021
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Our world has changed. The wave of uncertainty touched off by the pandemic is becoming an ongoing process of relearning how to live, work and care for our families. A powerful national movement for racial justice around the world is making clear that we need a new social contract. Our nation faces a reckoning with …

Announcing: New Community of Family Prosperity Innovators Read More »

BlogJuly 28, 2020
Smiling Family With Parents Giving Children Piggyback Rides In Garden At Home
Contact: Lindsay Broyhill Ascend at the Aspen Institute lindsay.broyhill@aspeninstitute.org  Bold Leaders to Advance Innovative Strategies for Families’ Health and Economic Prosperity  Aspen Institute Launches New Partners and Advisors in Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community  Washington, DC – Ascend at the Aspen Institute is proud to announce the new partners and advisors the Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community, Ascend’s initiative for breakthrough innovations and collaborations that position families to reach educational …

Bold Leaders to Advance Innovative Strategies for Families’ Health and Economic Prosperity Read More »

BlogJuly 22, 2020

Convenings Featuring Jobs with Justice Education Fund

Location: Virtual & In-Person in Washington, DC
We are thrilled to have Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta join us for a timely discussion about their book, The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century. Weaving together stories of real working people, the pair...
ConveningFebruary 22, 2023