The role of private sector procurement and how it can be leveraged to affect economic opportunities for workers has become a critical area for attention. In the United States, procurement for goods and services among the largest US companies accounts for, on average, 75% of their total spending. Through these funds and the processes by which suppliers are identified, selected, or measured, businesses have a powerful mechanism to promote jobs that provide greater stability, family-sustaining wages, and enhanced benefits — all elements that are essential for improving workers’ economic opportunity and well-being. To this end, in 2019, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP) received a grant from the James Irvine Foundation to support the pilot of California Good Companies/Good Jobs — a four-year project aimed at leveraging business incentives to boost high-road employer practices and expand job quality for frontline workers, particularly women and people of color. With an emphasis on strategies that can improve access to quality jobs for workers, the pilot focused on procurement decision-making among local governments and anchor institutions in California. By emphasizing the strategic use of procurement contracts, the pilot sought to encourage employers to prioritize the expansion of opportunities and job quality elements such as pay, benefits, and job stability for frontline workers.

This brief discusses the potential of data-driven impact procurement as a job quality strategy and specifically how, through strategic partnerships, Kaiser Permanente (KP) embedded job quality in its procurement practices from 2019 to 2023. It describes KP’s strategies to engage pilot partners, design the implementation process, and use the data and lessons from this work to inform future action. The analysis is derived from interviews conducted by EOP staff in 2024 with stakeholders involved in the California Good Companies/Good Jobs pilot. In addition to KP leadership, these stakeholders included leaders from the data analytics platform Working Metrics (WM), KP, and security services firm Blackstone Consulting Inc (BCI). Interviews focused on the context of each organization’s engagement in the pilot, the rationale for and design of the pilot, the results of the pilot and reaction of the organizations involved, and resulting changes in practices and policies. EOP staff also reviewed pilot materials from KP and WM, previous WM use case briefs, and literature on job quality and the procurement landscape. The interviews provided context regarding use cases for WM that predated the pilot, including information about organizations that were using the platform to inform vendor selection. Drawing from the research and interviews, the brief also provides recommendations for increasing the uptake of job quality-focused procurement in the private sector in California and nationwide.

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About Good Companies/Good Jobs

The Aspen Institute’s Good Companies/Good Jobs (GCGJ) initiative equips companies to advance economic opportunity through a key lever: good jobs. Through research, commentary, and convening, GCGJ elevates how companies can create shared value for workers, businesses, and communities. GCGJ is an initiative of the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program hosts a variety of discussions to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. To learn about upcoming events and webinars, join our mailing list and follow us on social media.

The post Improving Job Quality Through Data-Driven Impact Procurement appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

To understand the impact of the Shared Success demonstration, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program selected the Financial Access Initiative and EA Consultants to evaluate the work of the 11 community lenders. This midline evaluation includes survey data from small business owners who participated in advisory services provided by Shared Success grantees. Of those surveyed, 74% reported improving job quality over the past year. This deck overviews the types of job quality changes made, what motivated them, the challenges faced, and plans for future improvements. 

The Financial Access Initiative and EA Consultants’ qualitative and quantitative research will continue to explore outcomes for small businesses and workers through the end of the Shared Success demonstration.

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About Shared Success

Good jobs and strong businesses are vital to the well-being of communities across the country. Yet millions of workers struggle with poor-quality jobs, and small business owners often struggle to find and retain the employees they need. Shared Success, a project of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP), shows how building better jobs can uplift both sides at the same time. Supported by a $12 million investment from the Gates Foundation, EOP partnered with 11 community lenders to integrate job quality programming into their small business support services, supporting the needs of employees while helping small businesses succeed.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program hosts a variety of discussions to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. To learn about upcoming events and webinars, join our mailing list and follow us on social media.

The post Shared Success Midpoint Evaluation Overview appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

KC Boas will serve as Aspen FSP’s Retirement Savings Initiative Lead.

Some of the most important lessons I’ve learned about financial security came from my grandfather, Bob. He grew up during the Great

Depression, served in WWII, and built a life defined by resilience and hard-won dignity, living independently well into his 80s—sharp-witted, suspenders and all. Growing up, I was lucky enough to spend Saturday mornings listening to his stories and even luckier to realize, much later, what they really taught me: how financial security shapes everything from the lives we lead to what we pass on—stories included.

When I was the ripe age of 6, Bob decided it was high time for me to learn about having “respect for money,” as he put it. He told me about growing up in 1920s Chicago, watching his Gatsby-esque parents live it up—until, that is, it all came crashing down. (Cue: Black Monday.) They lost nearly everything, enough that they couldn’t afford to send Bob to college … but not so much that they couldn’t afford their annual country club dues.

What struck me then, and still does, is that he never seemed bitter. He picked himself up, used the GI bill to go to college, and lived life on his own terms. No country clubs, but he put five kids through school, and he was fiercely proud of that because he knew he’d given them something he never had: a stronger starting point.    

That belief—that financial security is foundational to a life well-lived—has driven my career. Over the past decade at BlackRock, I focused on building retirement solutions to help more people achieve long-term financial well-being. Just as I’d listened to my grandfather’s stories, I now listened closely to clients, to industry partners, and to colleagues who became mentors and friends, teaching me how to turn listening into insights and insights into action. I cannot thank them enough.

Along the way, one of those industry partners was the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. Their work challenged me to listen differently and to ask different questions, not just about what works, but also who it works for and how we can do better.

So when I say I’m a long-time listener, first-time caller, it’s because this feels like the moment I’ve been building toward for a long time. Now, I’m deeply honored to step into it as the new lead of Aspen FSP’s Retirement Savings Initiative.

I can’t wait to get to work. And I can’t wait to keep listening, because the future of retirement depends on the stories we hear and what we choose to do with them.

The post Long-Time Listener, First-Time Caller: Why KC Boas Is Honored to Join Aspen FSP appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

Why become a Job Quality Fellow?

• Fellows will connect with a diverse network of peers engaged in work that addresses job quality.
• In-person meetings will offer a safe harbor for the discussion of difficult issues as well as connections to resources and support.
• The research knowledge, network connections, and field leadership efforts of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program will be marshalled to support the Fellows’ work.
• Fellows and their organizations will be highlighted for their innovative leadership.
• Fellows will contribute to the development and communication of a narrative around job quality that supports their efforts and a healthy economy.

Who is eligible to apply for the Job Quality Fellowship?

This is an open call for people to nominate themselves or others. Note that this Fellowship cohort will differ from the prior groups in that there is a specific regional focus. Our new class of Fellows will be made up of job quality practitioners who are taking action to advance job quality in the South. For more information on job quality practices, please refer to this recent blog by Maureen Conway, “The Case for Creating a Job Quality Practice.” We aim to build a diverse class of leaders from labor unions, small business development organizations, worker centers, workforce and economic development entities, advocacy organizations, organizations focused on employee ownership, legal and human rights organizations, and other practitioners and experts who are tackling job quality issues that limit human flourishing in the South.

What is the South?

The Economic Opportunities Program recognizes that there is no single standard for what constitutes the South. The US Census defines the region generally as the following:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Mississippi
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia
• Washington DC
• West Virginia

The Council of State Governments follows the Mason-Dixon line as a guide, but it excludes Washington DC, Maryland, and Delaware from its definition while including Missouri. It is not our aim to limit Job Quality Fellowship applicants to one definition or the other. Rather, we welcome all those who see their work as contributing toward job quality improvements in the  South.

Why focus on the South?

Unfortunately, while the South has seen significant economic growth in recent decades, too few workers share in the benefits. Compared to the rest of the country, the South has high rates of poverty, poor health, shortened lives, and other negative outcomes among working people and families — outcomes that are often a direct result of poor job quality. The minimum wage in most Southern states is $7.25 an hour, and earnings in nine states are well below the national median, even when adjusted for cost of living differences. We at the Economic Opportunities Program know through our work there are a number of organizations and leaders in the South using innovative strategies to address these challenges and create an economy built on dignity and shared prosperity. For this iteration of the Job Quality Fellowship, we are looking for Fellows whose work improving job quality responds to the historical context and particular challenges of the South.

How do I receive the application materials?

To receive the application materials, you must be nominated for the Fellowship through this form. Starting on May 5, 2025 we will send application materials to nominees that meet our eligibility qualifications. Then, to be considered for the Job Quality Fellowship, eligible nominees must complete the provided application materials by Sunday, June 22, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. So that eligible nominees have sufficient time to receive and complete the application materials by June 22, 2025, we ask that you please submit all nominations by Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 10:00 p.m. EDT.

Nominate a Leader

Applications will be sent to nominees on the Monday following their nomination, beginning on May 5, 2025. The final set of applications will be sent out May 19, following the nomination deadline on May 14. If you do not receive the application by the Monday following your nomination, please send an inquiry to eop.program@aspeninstitute.org.

How can applicants confirm that their application materials are received?

Applicants will receive a confirmation of submission at the end of their application and via email. If you believe your materials were not submitted successfully, you may direct technical inquiries to eop.program@aspeninstitute.org.

Will the Aspen Institute provide notice to those who apply and are not selected in this cohort of Fellows?

We will send a notice of the selection of the 2025-2026 Fellows and information summarizing the selection process to all individuals who submitted applications. We expect to send that information mid-September, prior to public release of the Fellows list.

Does the application require letters of recommendation or promise of release or support time from the nominee’s employing organization?

Applications will require a minimum of one recommendation and a maximum of two. If you are selected we will require your home organization to authorize your participation through a signed letter of support from an executive director, board of directors, or other executive.

What time commitment is expected of Fellows for in-person meetings and other work at home beyond those sessions?

Fellows must attend in-person meetings during their tenure. The meetings will be delivered live and in person unless significant changes in public health require the program to proceed virtually:

• October 26—29, 2025
• February 23—25, 2026
• June 8—10, 2026

Fellows remain actively engaged between seminars. Throughout the year, Fellows will be expected to stay in touch with the program staff and other Fellows, as well as:

• Participate in up to three virtual meetings with Aspen staff in between in-person meetings.
• Complete required readings and any additional homework before each seminar.
• Collaborate with each other and Aspen staff.

Is budget support from the nominee or their employer organization required? Will Fellows’ travel and related expenses be reimbursed?

The Economic Opportunities Program will cover travel expenses associated with attending Job Quality Fellowship meetings. Airfare, lodging, and food during each meeting will be covered directly by EOP. Any ground transportation or other associated meeting costs will be reimbursed. There is not a stipend for Fellows in this program.

Thank you to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, Prudential Financial, and the Gates Foundation for their generous support of this work.

The post Frequently Asked Questions — Job Quality Fellowship, Class of 2025-26: Fixing Work in the South appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

Selected Fellows will work together from October 2025 to July 2026 to expand their networks and engage in peer learning, self-reflection, and strategic analysis that will support their work to improve job quality in the South. Through this cohort, we hope to uplift the efforts of forward-thinking job quality practitioners who can inspire others in the South and nationwide who are striving to bring about an economy that works for all.

Who are we looking for?

Our new class of Fellows will be made up of job quality practitioners who are taking action to address the needs of workers in the South by working to improve job quality and expand the availability of good jobs. For more information on job quality practices, please refer to this recent blog by Maureen Conway, “The Case for Creating a Job Quality Practice.” We aim to build a diverse class of leaders from labor unions, small business development organizations, worker centers, workforce and economic development entities, advocacy organizations, organizations focused on employee ownership, legal and human rights organizations, and other practitioners and experts who are tackling job quality issues that limit human flourishing in the South.

Why focus on the South?

At EOP, we define good jobs as those which provide economic stability for workers and their families, economic mobility, and respect and a voice in their workplaces. Unfortunately, while the South has seen significant economic growth in recent decades, too few workers share in the benefits. Compared to the rest of the country, the South has high rates of poverty, poor health, shortened lives, and other negative outcomes among working people and families — outcomes that are often a direct result of poor job quality. The minimum wage in most Southern states is $7.25 an hour, and earnings in nine states are well below the national median, even when adjusted for cost of living differences. We at the Economic Opportunities Program know through our work there are a number of organizations and leaders in the South using innovative strategies to address these challenges and create an economy built on dignity and shared prosperity.

By investing in improving the quality of all jobs — and not simply focusing on moving workers into the few good jobs that currently exist — we can bring about an economy where all work is valued and no one lives in poverty.

Nomination and Application Process

The form to nominate one or more leaders for this program can be found here. Individuals may nominate themselves. Based on information from the nomination form, eligible nominees will receive additional information and an application for the fellowship. Please click here for answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions.

• The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, May 14, at 10:00 p.m. EDT.
• The deadline for applications — when forms are completed by nominees — is Sunday, June 22, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Informational Webinar

On Tuesday, May 6, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, we will host an informational webinar about the Job Quality Fellowship. In addition to providing an overview of the nomination and application process, we are pleased to welcome two Job Quality Fellows to this conversation — Bo Delp, executive director of the Texas Climate Jobs Project — and Neidi Dominguez, founding executive director of Organized Power in Numbers — who will share their experience as members of the Fellowship. We will leave plenty of time for your questions at the end.

What is the South?

The Economic Opportunities Program recognizes that there is no single standard for what constitutes the South. The US Census defines the region generally as the following:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Mississippi
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia
• Washington DC
• West Virginia

The Council of State Governments follows the Mason-Dixon line as a guide, but it excludes Washington DC, Maryland, and Delaware from its definition while including Missouri. It is not our aim to limit Job Quality Fellowship applicants to one definition or the other. Rather, we welcome all those who see their work as contributing toward job quality improvements in the  South.

We are grateful to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, Prudential Financial, and the Gates Foundation for their generous support of this work.

The post Nominations Are Open for the Job Quality Fellowship Class of 2025-26: Fixing Work in the South appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

As the Aspen Institute celebrates its 75th anniversary, Act III represents the organization’s foundational belief in the power of dialogue and leadership as catalysts for societal transformation. This initiative will utilize the Institute’s proven seminar model, which unlocks moral courage and action through deep reflection and discussion, and is a part of the Global Inclusive Growth Partnership (GIGP), a collaborative platform created by the Aspen Institute and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth that enables private sector leaders to build impact-focused partnerships that drive commercially sustainable social impact.

The Act III cohort brings together 17 distinguished leaders—many a part of the AGLN—whose work spans continents and sectors. The cohort represents organizations and initiatives that shape industries, inform policy, and empower millions around the world.

The Act III Laureates are:

• Mehrdad Baghai – Co-founder and Co-CEO, Future Secure AI | Henry Crown Fellowship Program
• Beth Brooke – Former Global Vice Chair, Public Policy, EY | Henry Crown Fellowship Program
• Sylvia Mathews Burwell – Distinguished Fellow in Residence, Sine Institute; Former President, American University | Henry Crown Fellowship Program
• Sylvia Gereda – CEO, Tecnología y Comunicaciones Masivas S.A. | Central America Leadership Initiative
• Martin Kimani – President & CEO, The Africa Center; Former UN Permanent Representative, Kenya | Africa Leadership Initiative – East Africa
• Manisha Koirala – Actress & UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador (1999 & 2015)
• Vivek Murthy – 19th and 21st Surgeon General of the United States
• Maria Ressa – Co-founder & CEO, Rappler; Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist, Professor, Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs
• Isabel Saint Malo de Alvarado – Former Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Panama | Central America Leadership Initiative
• Shamina Singh – Founder & President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth & Executive Vice President, Sustainability at Mastercard | Henry Crown Fellowship Program
• Gayle Smith – Writer, Former CEO, ONE Campaign; Former Administrator, USAID
• Alan Storey – Methodist Minister and Social Justice Leader | Africa Leadership Initiative – South Africa
• Amy Stursberg – CEO, Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation
• Sally Susman – EVP, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Pfizer
• Dylan Taylor – Chairman & CEO, Voyager Technologies | Henry Crown Fellowship Program
• Tim Westergren – Founder & CEO, HelloCreator; Founder, Pandora | Henry Crown Fellowship Program
• Belinda Wong – Former Chairman & CEO, Starbucks Coffee China | China Fellowship Program

These influential leaders have wide-ranging experience leading Fortune 500 companies, innovative start-ups, civil society organizations, and government agencies. With representation from North America, Central America, Africa, and Asia, and sectors including business, public health, media, finance, education, technology, and government, cohort members bring decades of experience transforming organizations and systems.

The selected Laureates have demonstrated their commitment to building a world where everyone thrives. Through Act III, they will engage in a unique two-seminar arc focused on deep personal inquiry and clarifying values, designed to help them shape legacies and advance impact.

“Today’s global challenges require a different kind of leadership—one that combines experience with deep reflection and a commitment to dialogue and collaboration,” said Dan Porterfield, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. “The Act III Laureates bring a proven capability for serving society, and will gain new perspectives and partnerships through this initiative that will help to ensure that they continue to create lasting, positive impacts for people and communities around the world.”

“As the world continues to change, it is incumbent on today’s leaders to create a future that provides opportunities for all,” said Jon Huntsman, vice chairman of Mastercard and board director of the Mastercard Impact Fund. “Act III will support these leaders on their journey from significance to consequence, setting the stage for transformative change and impact.”

The cohort will begin its experience in September 2025 and complete it in March 2026.

The post Announcing the Act III: Leadership and Legacy Laureates Initiative appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

The ASU+GSV Summit and the Big AI Show recently convened in San Diego, California, providing a crucial platform to explore the evolving landscape of education, skills, and workforce development. As an attendee, I had the opportunity to participate in a wide array of panels and discussions, gleaning valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities facing stakeholders in the upskilling ecosystem. Three core themes emerged with notable prominence: addressing risk, the critical importance of articulating “why,” and the ongoing quest to determine return on investment.

Addressing Risk: A Paramount Concern

The pervasive sense of uncertainty in the current environment has elevated risk mitigation to a central priority for all stakeholders within the upskilling ecosystem.

• Educational institutions grapple with the risk of declining revenues due to decreased enrollment in traditional degrees and the influx of non-degree credentials.
• Funders navigate the risk of insufficient innovation and boldness in projects aimed at achieving scaled impact. A panel on philanthropic innovation emphasized the dual importance of execution risk and evidence risk in project design.
• Employers face the acute risk of talent shortages, hindering their ability to achieve critical business objectives. Lack of time, whether for hiring or upskilling existing employees, was another risk highlighted by employers as they work to stay competitive.
• Community-based organizations and edtech providers confront the risk of developing solutions that fail to align with the specific needs of employers and learners.

Successfully navigating these multifaceted risks through collaborative strategies is essential for building a thriving skills-based ecosystem.

The Power of “Why”: Clarity of Purpose

A recurring emphasis was placed on the importance of stakeholders across the skills and career mobility spectrum developing a clear understanding of their core purpose and effectively communicating it to others. Defining and articulating the “why” behind every problem and proposed solution is crucial for fostering relevance and alignment among all actors in the ecosystem.

Return on Investment: The Elusive Metric

Determining return on investment (ROI) for both employers and learners remains a significant topic of discussion. While the importance of ROI is clear, the optimal methodologies for its calculation continue to be debated, with varying approaches resonating with different audiences. One panel discussion on the future of learning explored the potential of shifting from measuring education to measuring learning, advocating for an input-focused versus an output-focused approach to ROI.

Conclusion

The ASU+GSV Summit provided a valuable snapshot of the current state of the skills ecosystem, highlighting both the challenges and the potential for collaboration. By prioritizing risk mitigation, emphasizing clarity of purpose, and pursuing more effective methods for determining ROI, stakeholders can work collectively to build a future where all learning is valued, individuals can effectively navigate their career paths, and businesses can achieve sustainable growth.

About the Author

Chelsea Miller is the associate director of UpSkill America, an initiative of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program.

Before joining the Institute in September 2024, Chelsea spent five years helping develop and lead the largest employer education benefit program in the US, Live Better U. Leading communications, policy, and portfolio strategy Chelsea made sure access to education was a reason Walmart made the Forbes Change the World list every year since 2018.

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UpSkill America supports employers and workforce organizations to expand and improve high-quality educational and career advancement opportunities for America’s front-line workers. We seek to create a movement of employers, civic organizations, workforce intermediaries, and policymakers working collaboratively to implement education, training, and development strategies that result in better jobs and opportunities for front-line workers, more competitive businesses, and stronger communities. Follow us at www.upskillamerica.org and
linkedin.com/company/aspeneop

The Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. Follow us on social media and join our mailing list to stay up-to-date on publications, blog posts, events, and other announcements. 

The post Navigating Uncertainty: Key Insights on Mitigating Risk and Fostering Alignment from ASU+GSV 2025 appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

Shifting Focus: From Workers to Jobs

The problem of poor job quality is often framed in terms of the burdens that low job quality places on workers — and these are important to recognize. Low wages, inadequate benefits, unsafe working conditions, demeaning or disrespectful workplaces, and other job quality challenges all have serious consequences for workers, their families, and communities. But the problem of poor job quality also affects business performance, contributing to low workforce engagement, reduced productivity, and limited business flexibility and resilience. Addressing only a piece of the puzzle — training and skill development opportunities, adequate compensation, stable schedules, or improved working conditions — falls short of achieving the kind of systemic change needed to build an economy that rewards work and restores hope for working people. Moreover, if we want workers to do a good job, they need to have a good job. The two go hand in hand.

For too long, poor job quality has been accepted as inevitable. It is not. It is possible to improve work. Businesses have chosen to manage their workforces by minimizing cost rather than maximizing productivity. This cost minimization approach to workforce management increases employee alienation, weakens trust and dampens enthusiasm for the work. Research bears this out, finding “easy hire, easy fire” policies lead to diminished worker productivity and innovation. On the other hand, scholars like Zeynep Ton research and write about companies that build highly successful businesses through high-quality jobs. What all this research highlights is that bad jobs are a choice — one that businesses do not have to make, and that society does not have to condone.

The Many Types of Job Quality Practice

At the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program, we see organizations use a variety of strategies to improve the quality of jobs available to the constituencies they serve, including:

Supporting small businesses:

Recent work with community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in our Shared Success demonstration focuses on the challenges that small businesses face in managing their workforce and on the ways CDFIs can provide information and resources to help small business clients improve job quality and strengthen their business. In this demonstration, 11 CDFIs in different parts of the country are integrating job quality advising and support into their small business services, and the early results have been encouraging, with 74% of surveyed businesses reporting job quality improvements since the start of their participation.

Embedding job quality into business and economic development:

We have also seen economic and workforce development organizations integrate job quality into their practice. For example, the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center focuses on supporting the success of small manufacturers in the state. In 2014, the organization launched a new approach to the work that integrated a job quality focus into their work on process and product improvement. The evaluation of that effort showed the approach yielded benefits for both businesses and workers. Earlier work with organizations employing a sectoral workforce strategy yielded examples of organizations that complemented training strategies with business advising services, social enterprise, advocacy, and other approaches to encourage improved job quality in their targeted industry sector.

Expanding employee ownership:

Expanding opportunities for employee ownership is another powerful strategy to advance job quality. Research shows that businesses with shared ownership create environments where workers have a stake in their employment, leading to improved job satisfaction and economic outcomes. Employee ownership not only improves job quality; it can also contribute to a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Advocating for policy change:

Programmatic practices that help businesses design better jobs can be complemented by policy advocacy to establish or raise minimum standards for job quality. Many organizations work to establish legislative standards in areas like wages, benefits, scheduling, and workplace safety. These policies not only create fairer workplaces; they also encourage businesses to embrace sustainable, high-quality employment practices.

Leveraging public procurement:

Another way governments can incentivize the design of higher quality jobs is through their role as a purchaser of goods and services. Public procurement practices can be aligned with the public interest in creating good jobs, and such practices can incentivize businesses to move toward business models based on high-quality jobs.

Strengthening collective action:

Collective action and collective bargaining have long been a powerful strategy for working people to improve their wages and working conditions, both in the US and around the globe. Indeed, the right to form a trade union is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is a critical component of building a human rights economy worldwide. And in the throes of the Great Depression, the passage of the National Labor Relations Act gave many working people in the US the right to work together to improve their working conditions, allowing workers to negotiate for shorter work hours and weekends off, benefits that many of us still enjoy today.

While these strategies vary in scope and execution, they share a common goal: creating tangible improvements in job quality, regardless of who holds the position. Although this work may seem daunting, countless organizations have demonstrated that meaningful change is possible.

As we continue our study of job quality practices, we will continue to share examples of this work and tools that can support different kinds of organizations in advancing a job quality practice. We curate these resources in our Job Quality Center of Excellence, and we welcome your contributions, feedback, and ideas for how to improve this repository.

Creating Lasting Change

At its core, job quality is about how we choose to treat one another in our economic systems. Establishing better norms, practices, and policies benefits not only businesses, but also society as a whole. When people earn a living wage and work under fair conditions, they experience less financial stress, allowing them to be better parents, neighbors, and civic participants. They also become more engaged and productive employees.

We stand at a pivotal moment. Policymakers, businesses, community organizations, and advocacy groups have the opportunity to reshape the employment landscape. By working together to prioritize job quality, we can create a future in which every worker has access to a job that offers not just a paycheck, but dignity, security, and a path to a better life. This effort will take time and commitment, but the potential rewards — a more just, equitable, and prosperous society — make it undeniably worthwhile.

* While some lower-paid jobs do provide a starting point that facilitates advancement in the labor market over time, as Jean Eddy, et. al. describe in “Launch Pad Jobs: Achieving Career and Economic Success without a Degree,” these large and growing occupational segments, such as personal care, food service, and health care support, were not identified as offering a pathway upward.

About the Author

Maureen Conway

Vice President, The Aspen Institute;
Executive Director, Economic Opportunities Program

Maureen Conway serves as vice president at the Aspen Institute and as executive director of the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program (EOP). EOP works to expand individuals’ opportunities to connect to quality work, start businesses, and build economic stability that provides the freedom to pursue opportunity. View Maureen’s full bio.

Learn More

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program hosts a variety of discussions to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. To learn about upcoming events and webinars, join our mailing list and follow us on social media.

The post Good Jobs, Stronger Communities: The Case for Creating a Job Quality Practice appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

Dr. Aaron Kuecker, president of Trinity Christian College, talks with students on campus. Photo Credit: Trinity Christian College.

Last fall, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program convened 27 leaders from higher education, business, civic and nonprofit organizations, and philanthropy with one goal—to reimagine how we finance higher education in the US. Co-hosted with Trinity Christian College, this private event featured presentations from affordable financing pilots across the country that leverage and advance the mutual interests of students, colleges, and employers, and identified opportunities to scale these solutions.

Recently, we asked two of the leaders at that meeting—Pete Kadens, founder of Hope Chicago and a Henry Crown Fellow, and Aaron Kuecker, president of Trinity Christian College—to talk with each other about the work they’re doing, and how it’s changing lives, communities, and attitudes in Chicago. We’ve excerpted some of the conversations below, but you’ll want to watch the video for the innovative and energetic approaches these two bring to the challenge of higher education affordability.

Kuecker, on the problem Trinity Christian College is trying to solve:

The fundamental problem that we’re working on is an upstream solution to student well-being. That was our starting point, but it doesn’t really touch on where we’ve landed, because most of the time when folks think about wellbeing they’re going to cue in on one segment of wellbeing. They’re going to cue in on mental health, or they’re going to cue in on academic wellbeing for students.

But for us, we were beginning to see that the overall structural economics of higher education was actually the thing that was the limiter to our student wellbeing. At the end of the day, it was economic above all else.

And so what we’ve done is really gone to work on a kind of alternate economic system that creates an upstream solution to student loan debt—and an upstream solution to student wellbeing—with alternative use of time and partnership, and then letting money flow differently. On the one hand, this is a solution. This is a problem solved for our students who feel this pain point.

What we’re seeing, and where we’re thinking bigger, is that this is a system-wide problem.

So this isn’t just about individual higher education institutions having models that aren’t good for students. It’s actually a wider ecosystem issue, where the pain points for students have to do with student access, well-being, and persistence. Pain points that our employers face have to do with employee pipelines, onboarding, retention, hiring, and the expense and challenge of that. And there’s the pain point of a non-viable future for the standard model for higher education, at least at places that aren’t hugely endowed or state-funded—places like Trinity.

So what we’ve really gone to work on is a solution that creates webs of mutuality and partnership—creating a deeper flourishing, not just for our students as students, but it gives them the opportunity to build wealth. Long-term student loan debt is one of the big limiters of some of the early wealth-building moves like home ownership, marriage, and job stability and security that harms our employers, and hurts our neighborhoods.

Kadens, on the value of Hope Chicago’s approach:

To our knowledge, we’re the only college scholarship program in the country that pays tuition, room and board, books and fees, and surcharges, and that provides a $1,000 a semester spending stipend for the students, and emergency funds if there’s a bereavement issue, or a travel issue, or a phone broken or something like that. So we are really doing sort of the lock, stock, and barrel. Every single one of our students will exit college without a single penny of debt. That’s better than most of their white suburban contemporaries. The students we serve are about 52% Latinx and below the poverty line, 48% Black and below the poverty line.

The other thing we know is that just sending a kid to college with a stack of cash is not going to do the trick. So there’s a whole host of wraparound services, or programmatic support, that starts in high school. And then there is full-time dedicated staff, what are called retention counselors, that serve most of our universities. […]

I think probably the thing we’re most known for in terms of our differentiation, though, is that to our knowledge we are the only college scholarship in the program in the country that sees this problem as a multi-generational problem. So you try and tie educational access to what you know about poverty, and to what we learned at the Aspen Institute: that multi-dimensional problems require multi-dimensional solutions. Well, poverty is multi-generational, so approaching it from a one-generational lens is probably not going to solve the problem.

Pete Kadens, founder of Hope Chicago, with area high school students. Photo Credit: Hope Chicago.

Kuecker, on how student time ties into student economics:

We started acting like there was enough time for our students to be well. That doesn’t sound like it’s an economic move, but it has been. So we don’t have class on Wednesdays anymore. We call it Well-being Wednesday over here at Trinity. We tell students, they decide what they need in order to flourish, socially, academically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, and professionally. Students have the same amount of class time, it’s just four days instead of five. Since we’ve done that we’ve seen our retention rate go up 10%. Our academic watch list dropped by about 60%.

We took that time on Wednesdays and went to our good employment partners—of whom there is almost an unlimited supply here in Chicagoland—and said, ‘Would you be willing to share more fully in both the risk and benefit of higher ed?,’ because we knew that they’re benefiting from the education and the workplace training that students were getting. And a lot of people are willing to say, yeah, we’ll do that.

And so we have been building a large web we call Earn, Network, and Learn, where students earn money for experiential education. They build their networks. They learn. They get academic credit quite regularly. And so our students use that Wednesday as an anchor day, but then other times throughout the week to do high-impact experiential education internships, co-ops, and micro internships. We have a variety of different configurations, where they’re in the workplace and they’re getting paid. They’re taking what they learn in the classroom and they’re putting it to use. They’re coming back to campus and they’re processing so the learning is powerful. But economically, what’s happening is we’re bringing funds in from those employers. Often those are direct-to-tuition grants, so no payroll tax.

Kadens, on the economics of free post-secondary education:

My nonprofit, Hope Chicago, started as a kernel of an idea when I was in the seminar room at the Aspen Institute. And now it’s a $30 million a year nonprofit here in Chicago sending thousands of students and their parents to college or trade school for free.

When you run the surveys on why students are not going on to post-secondary, there’s a whole host of reasons, but at the end of the day, it mostly comes down to financial stress and strain and the associated debt that you would have to take out in order to get to and through college. And that’s sort of like 60 or 70% of the reason that many of these kids who have the desire and will to go don’t end up going.

Now, what I’m trying to solve is how to do this at scale, system-wide. But my first focus is how can we ensure that every single schoolchild in the city of Chicago—which is a big city, we have about 400,000 students in our public schools here—every single child who has the desire and the will and the interest to learn can proceed with their learning after high school without having to worry about a mountain of debt and all the other stress and strain that comes along with going off to college. […]

I think our major issue here is a thought leadership issue, and it’s an issue of confusion and lack of clarity. The truth is that it costs $47,000 a year from the Cook County taxpayers to incarcerate one adult, and it costs $83,000 a year in Cook County, Illinois, to incarcerate a juvenile—and the taxpayers are paying that bill. To send a young man or woman to college at one of our amazing universities in this state, after Pell and after certain state grants, is about $15,000 a year. So the question is—and this is the problem we’re trying to solve—would you rather spend the $15,000, or would you rather spend the $83,000 to incarcerate a juvenile detainee? Because you’re paying that anyway as a taxpayer. I think there’s a real beneficial economic equation here if we start to get wise about funding education.

The post Innovations in Higher Education Financing: A Conversation appeared first on The Aspen Institute.

Diplomacy is inseparable from culture. Goods, practices, and ideas—including cultural traditions and habits—were used as tools of diplomacy. But, ever stubbornly, culture is not just what governments chose it to be.

Let’s make a necessary distinction here. Public diplomacy is governments speaking to each other. Cultural diplomacy is societies speaking to each other. Formal diplomacy remains the remit of state powers even if they enlist culture in public diplomacy projects. Public diplomacy remains a governmental action even if it successfully uses cultural and artistic means to communicate with a wider audience.

True cultural diplomacy is hard. When governments engage in true cultural diplomacy they must give communities, creators, and artists the freedom to interact and shape the diplomatic dialogue. But governments don’t like to lose control and that makes actual cultural diplomacy a delicate balancing act.

True cultural diplomacy goes against the grain of official diplomacy but is well worth trying. Just like ministers Mayu Ávila and Mohamed Benaïssa in their recent conversation on the power of cultural diplomacy, I am speaking from experience. In a prior appointment in Brussels as head of the Romanian Information Centre, my team and I often reached out to artists and creators to fulfill our public diplomacy mission to a European audience. Our one condition was that we never “used” culture. Instead, we offered it a platform. Sometimes it benefited us and sometimes it backfired. I remember an intercultural event where Romanian and Belgian jazz musicians, a Roma music band, a klezmer group, and a traditional northern Romanian ensemble started a jam session after a concert. They ended up playing well after midnight, leaving local police wondering whether to cite the musicians for breaking public noise ordinances or applaud along with the rest of the crowd.

More recently, between 2017-2019 I served as commissioner general for the Romanian French Season. Together with my French counterpart Jean-Jacques Garnier and our teams, we curated a series of over 400 projects with 600 events in the two countries over eight months. The series’ tag-line was “Oubliez vos Clichés”/“Forget your Clichés”. As such, we mainly gave the opportunity for hundreds of contemporary creators in visual and performing arts, cinema, research, and technology to bring forward their ideas and create content together, to widespread success. The project was authentic because it was cultural diplomacy at its core. Successful cultural diplomacy led to successful public diplomacy, as the art series offered Presidents Iohannis and Macron, numerous ministers, diplomats, and business delegations a fresh framework to reimagine French-Romanian relations.

There is often a personal dimension to cultural diplomacy. We may often think of cultural diplomacy as the movie stars, musicians, and artists representing their home nations, but more often, cultural diplomacy is private—the immigrants and diasporas sharing their traditions. Diasporas of all ethnic and religious backgrounds—at home and abroad—serve this dual role of ambassadors of their own cross-cultural experience.

Take, for example, Lucian Ban. Recently, Lucian, a Romanian-American jazz pianist, collaborated with John Surman, an Englishman, and Mat Maneri, an American, to produce a tribute to the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok and his obsession for Romanian music from Banat and Transylvania. The album, based on the Bartok field recordings, required quite a feat of personal diplomacy that had Lucian Ban working with musical institutions and archives in NY, Budapest, Timisoara, and Cluj. The album is a splendid dialogue musically and politically, demonstrating the political geography of music.

For Romania, cultural diplomacy also lives in our new wave cinema, creating a highly successful global arthouse presence. In 2020, former President Barack Obama included “Collective,” a brutally honest social and political documentary on the issues of the Romanian health sector, in his ten must-see documentaries of the year. The film is not flattering but its raw and critical eye connected people across borders and cultures.

For governments to engage in true cultural diplomacy, they must relinquish control of their artists, craftsmen, and cultural emissaries to allow organic expression—even if it does not completely align with public diplomatic goals.

True cultural diplomacy requires courage to create a platform for real dialogue between societies. When it is used properly, however, it has the power to bridge divides between people and nations, making it one of the strongest diplomatic tools.

Watch the discussion between Ministers Mayu Ávila & Mohamed Benaïssa below: 

Andrei Tarnea is a Romanian diplomat currently serving as director general for communications and public diplomacy at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute. 

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