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Dignifying Workers Around the World
"Flower Carrier" by Diego Rivera
“It’s ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves.”

Cesar Chavez
Gaby Rojas,
Social Transformation Digital Intern,
WE in the World
Uplifting Workers
 
 
March 2020. Those of us lucky enough to work remotely are sheltering safely at home. Everyday there seems to be a new message about thanking essential workers, the angels and the heroes of the pandemic. 

Fast forward to 2021. Those same essential workers are still working during a global pandemic, but now we have forgone the epitaphs we once gave them and lawmakers argue that these workers do not deserve a living wage. 

So often we as a nation enthusiastically lift others up in words alone. Yes, essential workers were and are heroes. But what have we as a nation done to uplift these hardworking people? 

COVID-19 in many ways revealed facets of society that for too long have been hidden, including the plight of the working class. 
IN THE NEWS
Photo by Getty Images
There’s a Step Biden Can Take to Help Workers, and He Hasn’t Done It
by Eyal Press

There is one notable change that the Biden administration has not yet made: issuing an emergency temporary standard that would require employers to protect workers from exposure to the coronavirus by taking actions such as instituting mask-wearing requirements and social-distancing rules.
What Native Americans Can Teach Rich Nations About Generosity In A Pandemic
by Sriram Shamasunder and Priti Krishtel

When vaccines became available, Navajo Nation leaders made a concerted effort to obtain vaccines from the U.S. government and get shots in arms quickly to ensure that their residents were protected from the virus. The results have been tremendous, with nearly 90% of the eligible population receiving at least a first dose.

These last few weeks, as COVID set India aflame in a profound surge, Navajo Nation continued the cycle of generosity forward by gathering PPE to send to India via the Indian embassy in Washington, D.C.
Photo by Gavin Sheridan
Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP
Why I support reparations — and all conservatives should
by Gary Abernathy

It is a tenet of conservatism that a level playing field is all we should guarantee. But that’s meaningless if one team starts with an unsurmountable lead before play even begins.
PODCAST
Working People

Working People is a podcast that discusses the everyday lives of working class people. Too often, blue collar workers are not listened to and underappreciated. Working People seeks to offer a platform for laborers from all walks of life.
TOOLS TO BUILD WELL-BEING
A Full-Employment Economy, A Federal Reserve That Works For Working People

How the Biden Administration Can Challenge the Fed’s Leadership to Embrace Growth and Equity: A Fed Up Campaign Position Paper
WIN Equitable Economies Policy Database

There are policies that have the potential to bring us closer to a well-being economy for all. The WIN Equitable Economies Cooperative has organized these policies into impact areas in our Equitable Economies Policy Database.
Tell Congress to Honor Mothers & Prioritize the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act this Mothers Day

Tell your legislators: Pregnant workers and mothers should not have to choose between feeding their families and their health. Yet, amidst a global pandemic and economic recession, too many women have been forced to do just that.

But there is a solution: Congress must immediately pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to help ensure dignity, security, and equity for pregnant workers. We must address systemic barriers to ensure that pregnant workers can lead full, healthy, and thriving lives.
The Workers Tarot Deck
A working prototype by Parsons DESIS Lab at The New School

This deck is meant as a critical tool to help designers understand the implications of their designs (of services, platforms, products, systems) have on workers. Rather than a tool that leads to immediate applications, the exercise proposes zooming out into larger ethical and political implications of service design to help practitioners define a more consequential practice for themselves.
BRIGHT SPOTS
Photo by A Better Balance
Legal Advocacy Organization Taking the Fight for Workers' Rights Online
by Andrea Blackstone

A Better Balance (ABB), a national organization dedicated to advancing justice workers caring for themselves and their loved ones, will hold a free online event Tuesday, May 11, to celebrate its 15th anniversary.
A network of about 1,000 volunteers respond to urgent calls for supplies in response to India’s COVID-19 surge
by Vedika Sud and Jessie Yeung

When India went under a strict months-long lockdown in March last year, the youth wing set up a war room in New Delhi, coordinating with other branches around the country to provide food and transportation to hundreds of stranded migrant workers.

That nationwide network of volunteers is now being used to respond to the second wave.
Photo by Vedika Sud
Photo by Rucha Chitnis
The Refugee-Led Coalition Creating Collective Care
by Rucha Chitnis

Already facing health and education gaps, refugees in San Diego banded together during the pandemic to define their own challenges and create their own solutions.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
The Forbes Funds


5/17 at 10:00 AM-11:00 AM ET

Share your questions, concerns, and ideas in a community of practitioners working to resolve organizational challenges during this unprecedented time. You will also hear from The Forbes Funds team about programming designed to empower nonprofits to overcome the impact of COVID-19 and pave a stronger path forward for the sector.

Build Healthy Places Network and Shift Health Accelerator


5/19 at 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET

Join Angela Glover-Blackwell, Founder-in-Residence of PolicyLink, Kathleen Kelly Janus, Senior Advisor on Social Innovation for Governor Gavin Newsom, and Debbie Chang, CEO of Blue Shield of California Foundation as we work towards a collective vision of healthy places and racial equity.
PolicyLink


5/20 at 3:00 PM ET

During this series, the Atlas team and our partners at Tableau and Lovelytics will walk you through creating your own $15/hour fact sheet in the Lab, from accessing the data to publishing a custom visualization that you can download, share, and use to advance equitable recovery strategies in your community. We suggest you register for all three installments to work through the full series together with us.