Our work to help low-income people gain economic security focuses on:
Ensuring Good Jobs and Access to Services
In the United States, millions of families have found that working hard — even in multiple jobs — is no longer a path to basic economic security. One in four working families (and the 21 million children in those households) is dependent on employment that offers poor job security, low pay, few benefits and little opportunity for advancement. To help these workers strengthen their financial position through greater job stability and opportunity, we support a range of efforts, including greater access to proven government supports such as the earned-income tax credit; an increase in the minimum wage; and paid sick days and subsidized child care.
Helen Neuborne, Director
Promoting Next-Generation Workforce Strategies
Good jobs sustain our communities, strengthen our economy and stand at the heart of our vision of opportunity. The job market in the United States has shifted dramatically over the past three decades, leaving growing numbers of Americans chronically unemployed or trapped in low-wage jobs with no future. Youth, immigrants and ex-offenders are among the most vulnerable. Expanding the employment opportunities of low-wage workers in the United States requires effective workforce development strategies that are responsive to their needs and provide access to quality training and jobs that increase their earning potential. We support the growth of organizations and research that address these challenges through sectoral partnerships and other innovations, increasing the quality, quantity and accessibility of training opportunities and work placement services where they can do the most good.
Helen Neuborne, Director
Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime
Publicly funded social protection systems are often a critical aid in helping the working poor join the economic mainstream. Our efforts to expand opportunity for low-income people focus on strategies that help families gain access to government initiatives that enable them to build economic security over a lifetime. Our work in the United States focuses on promoting public support for the creation of universal savings accounts and Social Security reforms that increase benefits for low-wage workers. Internationally, we focus on building savings through programs that combine matched contributions and savings services with conditional cash transfer programs (which reward low-income families for adhering to the requirements of a "social contract") to create permanent financial assets for poor households. Together, these measures can create financial assets that break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.
Frank DeGiovanni, Director
Improving Access to Financial Services
Access to financial products and services provides a way to build long-term assets and weather unforeseen crises. Yet, in the United States, an estimated 19 million households do not have a savings or a checking account. Globally, nearly 75 percent of people living in poverty lack access to financial services. To help poor and low-income people build economic security, we back efforts to increase their access to quality financial services by supporting research to test innovative products that meet the needs of poor households; building an infrastructure to make these products and services widely available; funding advocacy for supportive policy and regulation; and supporting efforts to monitor the effectiveness of financial services.
Frank DeGiovanni, Director
Expanding Livelihood Opportunities for Poor Households
Rural communities experience the deepest forms of poverty and face challenging barriers to economic opportunity. Fully 75 percent of the world's extreme poor — more than 883 million people surviving on less than $1 per day — live in rural areas. In the United States, some 7.5 million rural people are poor. Our work focuses on finding innovative ways to improve the livelihoods of rural producers. We have four approaches: encouraging research and development to test new ways to improve access to markets; strengthening the capacity of organizations that assist rural producers; supporting policy analysis and advocacy to improve private and public policies that affect rural livelihoods; and building robust global networks to support innovation and effective advocacy.
Frank DeGiovanni, Director