NCLR’s Economic Mobility Initiative (EMI) seeks tangible improvements in the ability of Latino families and workers to climb the economic ladder. The issue of economic mobility is often ranked one of the most important issues in the Latino community -- Hispanics want to acquire and improve on their skills, find good paying jobs and successfully live the American Dream.
Latinos have the highest labor force participation rate in this country; unfortunately, despite their hard work, many Latino workers find themselves in low-wage jobs with few or inadequate benefits to support their families. Building on NCLR’s public policy framework, the Initiative focuses on legislative advocacy changes that bring about meaningful policies in education and skills advancement, which opens up opportunities traditionally closed to the Hispanic community.
NCLR’s advocacy is shaped through leveraging both its program expertise gained through our Workforce Development (WFD) programs and public policy knowledge. As such, EMI’s goals are to:
- Promote policies that reward work, such as targeted tax credits for low-wage earners;
- Advance policy solutions that create jobs, such as through federal transportation investments and in other growing industries;
- Promote efforts that build ladders of employment mobility, such as in skill-building areas in workforce development and welfare-to-work policies;
- Help to stop policies that can hurt Latino workers and families such as budget cuts, uneven tax cuts, and senseless combining of federal programs important in helping Latinos move up economically.
