Empower Work

Empower Work is changing the lives of historically excluded workers and building more equitable, inclusive workplaces. 

We help people thrive, particularly BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+,  ensuring they have the support, information, and resources to navigate complex work challenges - via technology. 

Our text line meets workers where they are - on a bus or in a break room - providing coaching and resources like job search tools that improve economic security and mental health.

Jobs are core to opportunity. Yet workplaces aren’t working for most Americans—nor is the safety net around work. In our research, over 95% of workers reported experiencing adversity at work; 80% lacked resources. Over 40M Americans work in workplaces with fewer than 100 employees. These workplaces have few internal supports (e.g., no HR). When critical work events happen like job loss, workers often lack resources. 

Historically marginalized workers are not only more likely to face adversity, they’re less likely to have support, resulting in unpaid sick leave, leaving a job with no next job, or taking a pay cut. This has a negative ripple effect economically and emotionally, exacerbating inequality.

In 2022, we served over 90,000 people through our text line and content, a 140% increase over 2021. Over 90% of people who use the line say they would enthusiastically refer to us because of the benefits they received. They asked for a pay raise and got it, organized with coworkers for personal protective equipment (PPE), advocated for paid leave, got a new job without losing pay or having gaps in employment, took steps to report and hold their employer to account for issues from wage theft to discrimination, and perhaps most importantly, felt a sense of resilience, strength, and agency. 

A few weeks after a conversation with an Empower Work counselor, people shared they felt, “empowered,” “relieved,” “less stressed,” “unstuck,” “safer, able to pay rent.”

For example, during COVID, a mom of three in Georgia reached out scared and exhausted having just lost her job as a trucker (she noted the company faced COVID-19 cutbacks but only Black drivers were let go), "I don’t really know what to say other than I’m terrified of what’s to come. I have a lot of financial responsibilities and no one to call on for help. I’m afraid I’m about to lose it ALL." An Empower Work counselor provided space to talk through her needs. By the end, she’d applied for unemployment to cover financial concerns, talked through her emotions, and created a plan for her job search. She wrote that the combination of support, "offered me tremendous hope where I didn’t think I had any." She said the conversation had “brought light to darkness.”

Over 78% of texters identify as a woman; 52% as a person of color; 17% as LGBTQIA; and 54% are in their first 10 years working (under 28 years old). Overwhelmingly, texters express financial vulnerability with 60% making less than $75K/year.

Empower Work is uniquely positioned to grow support to the millions who need it. Our goal: positively improve the economic and emotional well-being of 3M vulnerable workers struggling to stay on a path to opportunity within 5 years. 

We’re raising $5M to invest in three key areas to achieve that impact: 

• Outreach to connect with vulnerable workers and their communities

• Technology to create efficiencies for scale and unlock data insights for change, and 

• Direct service to train thousands of volunteers and provide support on the line.

Every donation - every gift - counts. We hope you'll join in!