Low-Income Californians and the Economy: Initial Findings from 70 Listening Sessions
EARN recently reached a major milestone. As of June 1, 2011, we and several partner organizations have collectively held 70 listening sessions with nearly 1,000 participants in 22 communities throughout California. What we heard was often compelling, sometimes downright riveting, and it provided us with valuable insight about how Californians -- especially those who are low-income and belong to communities of color -- are faring in the current economic environment.
As you may remember from previous blog posts, in 2010, EARN’s policy team joined with several partner organizations to build a statewide grassroots constituency. This group of committed individuals advocates for fair public policies and programs that help low-wage workers and their families access wealth-building opportunities.
Our partners -- Greenlining Institute, Families in Schools, Long Beach Interfaith Community Organization, and PICO federations in the Central Valley -- worked with us throughout 2010 and 2011 to hold listening sessions in churches, schools, community centers, and the offices of nonprofit organizations. These sessions were a great opportunity for all of us to listen and learn directly from constituents about their financial challenges, ideas for how to address these challenges, and dreams for themselves and their families.
We were all moved by what we heard -- so moved, in fact, that we wanted to share a snapshot of our takeaways with you. Here are some of the key takeaways from our listening sessions:
- Participants lack good paying jobs with benefits.
- They lack health care insurance or access to affordable health care.
- They have little to no savings, especially for emergencies.
- They are struggling to pay their bills and are living paycheck to paycheck.
- They cannot access credit to launch or expand their small businesses.
- They lack knowledge in financial management and access to financial management resources.
- They are struggling with the rising cost of higher education, costs of education materials for younger students, and high levels of student loan debt.
- They are targets of financial scams and predatory lending practices.
Over the next few months, we will begin to process and analyze all of the information we received in the listening sessions. We’ll then publish our findings in a report and share them with the community in “report back” sessions.
This information will help inform a public policy agenda, enhance financial and direct service programs and products, and develop a community engagement and organizing strategy that is rooted in the needs and interest of low-wage workers and their families.
We look forward to sharing our findings with you.
Until next time,
Sheryl Lane
Director of Public Policy
Thanks for reading the blog post. We are currently in the process of analyzing and reviewing all of the information and comments we received at the statewide listening sessions. We hope that by the end of the summer that we will have an understanding of the key financial issues impacting low-to-moderate Californians. In collaboration with our listening session partners, we will use this information to develop a policy platform that is rooted in the interests and ideas presented at the listening sessions. This policy platform will help guide our future policy and advocacy efforts. We have a medium-to-long term goal of passing state legislation that can materially benefit low wage workers and low-to-moderate Californians.
We also hope to grow a statewide constituency that is inspired to engage in local advocacy and programmatic efforts that result in prosperity for low-wage workers in California.
What will eventually come out of your findings after the completion of your fact-finding and listening has concluded? Inquiry minds want to know?
