We are excited about the release of Greater Cleveland’s Community Action Plan for Advancing Access to Work. Built upon the Social Determinants of Work Initiative – a framework that describes how external factors such as access to childcare or broadband act as barriers to economic mobility – this plan lays out a bold vision for improving access to living-wage work for all members of the Greater Cleveland community.
Creating the Community Action Plan
More than a year of community discussions, research, and planning informed the action steps laid out in this plan. We began in 2022 by gathering diverse perspectives through round-table discussions, working sessions, and a community-wide summit. We heard from hundreds of local voices: social service providers; employers; non-profit leaders; and community members experiencing barriers to work. These conversations are summarized in the Social Determinants of Work Benefits Cliff Summit Discussion Summary and the Community Action Plan Working Sessions Summary.
In March of 2023, we convened 200 business and community leaders to explore solutions to barriers to economic mobility at the Social Determinants of Work Symposium. Keynote speaker Dr. Angela Jackson, who first used the term “social determinants of work,” discussed creative, employer-driven solutions to addressing employees’ barriers to achieving economic security.
Building upon these conversations and events, inspired by our private, public, and nonprofit partners, and in collaboration with Rise Together LLC, we have laid out this Action Plan that will translate high-level strategies into actionable solutions.
The Community Action Plan Sets Forth Five Long-term Strategies for Enacting Change:
- Harness the power of collective impact through the creation of the Social Determinants of Work Coalition.
- Focus programmatic efforts on mitigating select, intersecting determinants.
- Empower employers to implement practices and policies that enable workers to achieve economic mobility.
- Drive systems-level change by promoting public policy that recognizes the intersectionality of the determinants.
- Commit to action, partnership, and transparency.
Implementing the Community Action Plan
We are now in the process of hiring a consultant to convene the Social Determinants of Work Coalition, which will meet beginning in January of 2024. This Coalition will be charged with implementing and overseeing the Action Plan steps. They will begin by testing the Employer Toolkit with a pilot group of regional employers and drafting a public policy agenda that addresses the most significant barriers to work in our region.
The Coalition will also work on refining the Employer Toolkit, a resource that gives employers a process for identifying and addressing the barriers to work impacting their organization’s ability to attract and retain talent.
Incorporating the Diverse Perspectives of Our Community
The Community Action Plan is not only an outline for change, but also a living document that incorporates the voices of hundreds of Greater Clevelanders. On-going feedback from different segments of the community is essential to the success of this plan and will be incorporated into the work of the Coalition. This fall, we will hold feedback sessions on the Employer Toolkit with community members impacted by barriers to work and with employers piloting the Toolkit.
United Way of Greater Cleveland’s Community Action Plan was designed and is being implemented with the voices of those most impacted by barriers to work in the forefront. In the face of sustained levels of poverty and the growing divide between the wealthy and the poor, it is incumbent upon us to DO something. Programs to address the immediate needs of those living in poverty provide essential support but will never create lasting change in the structures and systems that limit the economic mobility of those experiencing poverty. This Action Plan is a key step on the journey toward increasing the potential for lasting prosperity for Greater Clevelanders, and most especially for those experiencing poverty.
For more information on the Social Determinants of Work initiative, contact Renée Timberlake, Director of Economic Mobility
