Background

The information and resources on this site are designed to help people who care about building an economy that works for all Americans - one that provides profit to business owners and stable jobs with adequate pay and benefits to employees. All materials are based on extensive research that was conducted for a communications and technical assistance project called For An Economy That Works for All, funded by the Ford Foundation and coordinated by Douglas Gould & Co., Inc. and the Communications Consortium Media Center, public interest communications firms.

If you are reading this, you probably know very well that advocates have been working for a number of years, with varying degrees of success, to enact policies and programs that address the obstacles standing in the path of low-wage workers who are striving to achieve the American Dream. Issues such as the lack of affordable early care and health care, a minimum wage that has not kept pace with the cost of living and inadequate access to job training programs are some of the key challenges that we confront. While progress in these areas has occurred, there are a number of public perceptions that make it exceedingly difficult to achieve the policy changes necessary to improve the lives of low-wage working families. By framing these issues in a different way, advocates can shape public dialogue to create a climate that is more favorable toward low-wage workers and low-wage work.

Recent Resources

• Working Press, written by Douglas Gould and Company in 2006 is a follow-up report to an earlier news analysis that the firm did in 2001.
  
  
• Audio Conference on Minimum Wage Messaging, March 21, 2006
  • This is an audio stream of a 40-minute audio briefing with dozens of grassroots activists around the country working on minimum wage issues. The briefing was coordinated by the CCMC and its Fairness Initiative on Low Wage Work and featured the Co-Directors of the Initiative Beth Shulman and Phil Sparks.