Building Coalitions and Creating New Models for Pursuing Equitable Policy

We organize and convene groups at the state-level to work on policy change and unite around common issues.

Our state-based Inclusive Economies Project brings together grassroots groups, business leaders, faith communities, unions, and think-tanks in a coordinated effort to influence local policy toward equity.

We build networks in battleground states and states of promise.  This collaborative effort provides capacity building, messaging and communications support, research, policy ideas, and trainings with organizers working toward economic justice and a progressive tax code.

Raising Wages NC and The Living Wage Network are critical components of our work for a fair economy, and our Inclusive Economy Project.

Raising Wages NC is a representative coalition of 36 community, labor, and grassroots groups representing thousands of members, supported by United for a Fair Economy. We support raising the minimum wage, addressing the particular challenges faced by low-wage workers in southern, largely Republican states. By partnering with regional organizations, we build capacity and leadership at the local level.

The Living Wage Network connects community groups across 6 regions. The network is composed of certification programs that recognize employers who pay a living wage, significantly impacting the lives of tens of thousands of low-wage workers. Over 2,500 small and medium sized businesses across the country have certified their willingness to pay a living wage to their employees. By linking organizations through the network, we will expand and support the movement for living wages and lift up employers who believe it’s good business to pay livable wages to all workers.

The Avila Center is a new, emergent home for our work in North Carolina and a core part of our support for movement building in the South. The center has over 50 acres of beautiful land, dormitories and meeting spaces which will be used to find community, strengthen grassroots organizing, and build collective power.

The Avila Center has a long history as a gathering place for faith groups. We are excited to use our role to help expand access to the space to all communities; in Durham and beyond. Several organizations with a long history of community work have come together to nurture The Avila Center’s growth as a center for connection and community. This collaborative governance includes ourselves as well as: Raise Up the South, Peace Hill and Self-Help.

The Inclusive Economies Project supports base building and coalitions in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Virginia, Minnesota, New York, and Tennessee. We strive for these coalitions to be models that can be taken and adapted across the South, with a goal of building community power and ultimately lifting hundreds of thousands low-wage workers, particularly people of color, women and immigrants, out of poverty.