EARN in the Midwest promotes racial, gender, and economic justice. We aim to advance policies that address the needs of working families and reduce the racial disparities that plague our region.
We will do this by forging deeper partnerships between EARN groups and grassroots organizations, so they can more effectively collaborate in pursuit of shared goals. We believe there is untapped potential in such collaborations and we will help EARN groups and grassroots partners, state by state, build the capacity that will make collaboration feasible. Because racial inequality plays such a significant role in the well-being of working families, our aim is to work with grassroots organizations run by and advocating for people of color.
We’re building an intentional community of EARN groups and grassroots partners across the Midwest. We’ll hold strategy sessions, seminars and workshops, larger convenings, and our annual EARNCon, where groups can exchange ideas and hear from each other. Every state will have a different experience of EARN in the Midwest, and it is through region-wide communications that all will learn. EARN staff at EPI will help coordinate this work and offer additional assistance and resources as needed.
Our work is suffused with a vision of racial and gender equity, which cannot be separated from the goal of policy changes to support working families. Within that vision, there are myriad paths EARN groups and grassroots organizations may choose to follow in their states: different issues to prioritize and different modalities for advancing policy goals. We will use our Heartland Partnership Fund to provide subgrants that will help those collaborations build capacity to carry out their strategies.
As opportunities present, and as the Initiative proceeds, we will use what we learn to consider multi-state or region-wide plans for change. We hope to end the first two years of the initiative with both clear advances in policy goals, and a roadmap for building sustainable relationships between EARN groups and grassroots partners that can continue good work together in the years to come.
Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, Common Good Iowa, Children’s Advocates for Change, Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute, Michigan League for Public Policy, Missouri Budget Project, Minnesota Budget Project, Policy Matters Ohio, Kansas Action for Children, COWS, Kids Forward.
Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, Grassroots Collaborative, Grassroots Maternal and Child Health Leaders, Detroit Action, MO Jobs with Justice, Central Ohio Worker Center, Northeast Ohio Worker Center, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers’ Center, Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization.
