Supporting Work Project: About the project
About the project | Description of pilot programs | Resources and information

According to Families and Work Institute’s Entry-Level, Hourly Worker Reports, some 12 to 15 million U.S. employees earn low wages and live in low-income households. Publicly funded work supports – such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, housing and heating assistance, child care subsidies and tax credits, Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) – have the potential to improve the economic stability of these employees and their families, but many are either unaware that they qualify for these benefits or face considerable barriers in accessing them.

With funding from the Ford Foundation, Families and Work Institute’s Supporting Work Project focuses on groundbreaking ways that community and business leaders are partnering to help employers of all sizes play an important role in educating their lower-wage workers about publicly funded work supports and in making it easier for them to apply for and receive these benefits. The goals of the Supporting Work Project are to:

• increase the number of employers linking eligible employees to publicly funded work supports;
• increase the number of eligible employees who use these supports;
• evaluate how increasing access and use of these publicly funded work supports benefits employers by stabilizing their workforce, while simultaneously helping their employees begin to improve their economic stability; and
• increase awareness of and support for publicly funded work supports among employers and the public at large in order to sustain and expand these efforts.

In spring 2007, Families and Work Institute awarded Supporting Work Project grants to 11 pilot projects that connect lower-wage employees to government and community supports:

• Center for Economic Progress ( Chicago, IL)
• Ceridian (multi-state)
• Community Action Project of Tulsa County ( Tulsa, OK)
• Family Resource Center @ Gorham ( Gorham, NH)
• FEI Behavioral Health and Seedco ( New York, NY and Milwaukee, WI)
• Goodwill Industries of San Antonio ( San Antonio, TX)
• Human Services Coalition ( Miami, FL)
• SF Works ( San Francisco, CA)
• Step Up Savannah ( Savannah, GA)
• United Way of Central Iowa ( Des Moines, IA)
• United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona ( Tucson, AZ)

These pilot projects have the potential to increase the disposable income, purchasing power and financial stability of lower-income employees and their families, as well as increase the competitiveness of local businesses by reducing turnover and enhance the prosperity of communities by bringing millions of dollars of resources into local economies.

For information about the Supporting Work Project pilot projects, click here. These pilots join a group of initiatives that the Ford Foundation has been funding to increase employer involvement in providing publicly funded works supports.