Quality Jobs Working Group

A common thread linking most of the people that the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus cares about --- a mother struggling to navigate the new system of welfare...residents of a neighborhood buffeted by environmental degradation; urban workers unable to get to their jobs because of a transit system designed for suburban automobile commuters; homeless families unable to get back on their feet due to the exorbitant cost of housing --- is the crisis of jobs that exists as a result of our current economy. The crisis has two dimensions: many people can’t find jobs and are stuck in a near permanent state of unemployment; an equally large number of people have jobs and work full-time but earn wages which are insufficient to raise a family decently.

To deal with this crisis, the Bay Area SEC facilitated a Quality Jobs Working Group from 2006-07. In the spirit of successful campaigns around transportation justice, Urban Habitat partnered on this project with Dr. Steven Pitts of the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education. The QJWG collaborated with the Oakland Network for Responsible Development (ONWRD) by co-hosting the People’s Summit on Jobs, Housing, & Justice and contributing to the report, Putting Oakland to Work.

QJWG participants included ACORN, Alameda County Labor Council, Apollo Alliance, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, Bay Localize, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (EBC), LIFETIME, National Economic Development & Law Center (NEDLC), Public Advocates, UCB Labor Center, UNITE Here Local 2850, United Way of the Bay Area (UWBA), Women’s Initiative for Self Employment (WI), and the Workforce Development Collaborative.

In early 2008, based on a 10 year Evaluation, Urban Habitat decided to step back from facilitating single issue working groups in an effort to focus coalition and Urban Habitat staff energy on the unique multi-issue, regional framing so unique to the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus. The Transportation Justice Working group continues to be supported by Urban Habitat’s Transportation & Housing Program.