Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., has announced a three-year, $4 million grant from the Ford Foundation in support of efforts to address the complex problems workers face in the twenty-first century economy.

Awarded through the foundation's Future of Work(ers) program, the grant will support Bargaining for the Common Good, a network established by Georgetown's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, and efforts by the university to broaden and deepen collaborations with its partner organizations, including the Center on Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University and the Action Center on Race and the Economy. Among other things, the partners will work to address the impacts of COVID-19 and deep-seated structural inequities in the economy on working families.

"The Ford Foundation funding will help the Kalmanovitz Initiative expand and deepen the work of the Bargaining for the Common Good network at a time of profound crisis for working people," said Joseph A. McCartin, executive director of the initiative. "Ford's support will help our network advance plans to confront the momentous challenges working people face in this crucial moment."

"We are proud to support the Kalmanovitz Initiative in its ongoing effort to build worker power towards a more just economy," said Sarita Gupta, director of the foundation's Future of Work(ers) program. "We believe all workers are essential, and the Bargaining for the Common Good project helps drive that vision, where working people are building a more equitable, democratic, inclusive, and sustainable economy not only for themselves, but society at large."