Black Worker Initiative
The IPS Black Worker Initiative is deeply committed to helping achieve both the historic and contemporary aims of the labor and civil rights movements by expanding opportunities for Black worker organizing.
Since 2017, IPS has worked closely with grassroots partners in the U.S. south, particularly in Alabama, to help unleash the untapped potential of Black worker organizing as a force for regional economic transformation and the revitalization of the U.S. labor movement as a whole.
Black Worker Initiative Director Marc Bayard draws on his decades of experience in the labor movement and in economic development to help build broad, multi-racial community support for Black worker organizing through public dialogues and strategic partnerships, communications, and research.
Latest Work
Reports
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Economic Justice, Racial & Gender Justice
Alternate Route: New Pathways to Better Jobs in Alabama Through Public Transit
Alabama has one of the country’s largest workforce shortages. Public transit is key to closing it.
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Economic Justice
Homecoming: The Greater Birmingham Community Speaks on Regional Cooperation and a More Inclusive Economy
Greater Birmingham, AL, has experienced a resurgence in economic growth and civic engagement. Yet the benefits of this prosperity are not widely shared.
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Economic Justice
The Other Side of the Storm
What Do Black Immigrant Domestic Workers in the Time of Covid-19 Teach Us About Building a Resilient Care Infrastructure?
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Economic Justice, Racial & Gender Justice
Black Immigrant Domestic Workers in the Time of COVID-19
Black immigrant domestic workers are at the epicenter of three converging storms—the pandemic, the resulting economic depression, and structural racism.
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Economic Justice
Report: Agricultural Cooperatives
Opportunities and Challenges for African American Women in the South
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Economic Justice, Racial & Gender Justice
Report: Pay, Professionalism, and Respect
Black Domestic Workers Continue the Call for Standards in the Care Industry
Black Worker Initiative in the news
How CEO Charlotte Shaw is Changing the Direction at Birmingham’s MAX Transit
Survey: Most Birmingham residents feel the city’s revival is unequally shared
Survey says Birmingham metro residents feel left behind in current economy
Birmingham Underground residents feel left behind in the current economy, a survey reveals
The Future of Workers in the Gig Economy and Beyond: A Conversation with Steve Dubb, Rithika Ramamurthy, and Sarita Gupta
Survey reveals Black immigrant domestic workers continue to face pandemic-related instability
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