This is a remote summer research position at a nonprofit organization focused on expanding employee ownership. We are seeking a graduate student currently pursuing a degree in public policy, public administration, city/urban planning, or a related field. Start and end dates during the summer are flexible. This volunteer opportunity is unpaid.
Project Equity grows community wealth by retaining successful local businesses through employee ownership transitions
Do you envision a world where every worker enjoys financial security, and businesses actively contribute to the resilience of communities? Do you want to help reverse the racial wealth gap and address economic inequality? So do we!
Project Equity empowers employees to become owners of the businesses where they work. We do this by raising awareness of employee ownership (EO) as a business succession strategy, conducting business outreach and education, and providing direct support for both business owners and employees in their transition to EO. Since our inception in 2014, we have successfully educated over 10,000 business stakeholders on employee ownership as a succession strategy, counseled more than 800 businesses, and provided transition and post-transition technical assistance to more than 100 companies representing over 2,000 workers. Over the ten years since our launch, Project Equity has become a national leader in the movement to harness EO to address income and wealth inequality, honor business owners’ legacies, and sustain vibrant local communities.
Help us tap incredible momentum
An emerging area of focus in our work is advocacy and policy in support of employee ownership. Through our public policy work, we partner with local government stakeholders across the country to embed EO in business support systems and elevate EO as an economic development strategy. Coming on the heels of our success in helping pass California’s Employee Ownership Act in 2022, the recent federal passage of the WORK Act, and state legislation advancing in several other states, there is immense momentum and opportunity for EO policy. As we deepen our partnerships in multiple regions nationally, we are working to expand our policy work at the local, state, and federal levels to reduce barriers and create incentives for EO.
Your role in driving policy change
As a policy-focused graduate student researcher, you will play an important role in a two-year collaborative research project that Project Equity is conducting in partnership with Morehouse College and the University of California at Riverside. The “Increasing Black Income and Wealth through Employee Ownership” project aims to:
- Carry out unprecedented quantitative and qualitative research to understand the impact EO is currently having on Black workers in the United States, and the awareness of and challenges that Black business owners may face in considering or pursuing EO; and
- Make recommendations for how policy levers can help to make EO accessible to Black business owners and Black workers in order to build intergenerational wealth in Black communities
You will work closely with Tyler Rivera (Manager, Policy & Impact) and Hilary Abell (Co-founder and Chief Policy & Impact Officer) to advance this project through one or more of the following tasks (we will determine your final scope of work together based on your research interests, experience, and the currently active work):
- Conduct policy research at the local, state, and/or federal levels to contribute to the development of a comprehensive database of existing EO policy efforts
- Utilize Airtable to assist in building a public-facing database of EO policies, ensuring accessibility and ease of use for stakeholders
- Collaborate on the creation of an effective outreach and dissemination strategy for the EO policy database, ensuring it reaches and engages relevant stakeholders
- Explore public policies and private sector practices designed to support black-owned businesses, translating research findings into clear and concise policy briefs or similar outputs
- Support with interviews of Black business owners in collaboration with the Morehouse College team, including drafting interview questions, transcribing and analyzing interview notes, and translating findings into written case studies
- Research and draft model policies and best practices to promote employee ownership as a strategic tool for Black wealth building
The Graduate Student Researcher may volunteer up to full-time (35 hours per week) for ~12 weeks during summer 2024, with flexible start and end dates. This is an unpaid volunteer opportunity intended to complement a students’ current academic studies through practical experience with a growing nonprofit organization. We encourage applicants to explore the availability of outside funding opportunities you may be eligible for (e.g., school programs that subsidize work with mission-driven organizations). Our team is distributed and mostly remote, and you will be expected to have access to your own technology for remote work, including a reliable computer and internet connection.
Qualifications we’re looking for
- Currently pursuing a Masters of Public Policy, Masters of Public Administration, Masters of City/Urban Planning, or a related degree
- Strong background in professional research and writing
- Policy analysis and/or public sector legislative, agency, or advocacy work experience (private sector institutional policy work is also relevant)
- Knowledge of policy issues related to racial equity and community economic development
- Bonus: prior experience with employee ownership or cooperatives
Areas where you shine
- You are passionate about advancing racial and economic justice
- You are an outstanding writer and communicator
- You can articulate the link between on-the-ground impact and policy change
- You are both highly creative and prone to sweat the small stuff—you want to get it right and you want to make a difference
- You aren’t shy about tracking down information, finding people to answer your questions, and reaching out to others for their advice and input
- You make things happen—you are courageous, ambitious, and humble
How we work
- We are goal-oriented and strive to achieve results in a short period of time
- We are deeply interested in how policies can support the expansion of employee ownership and economic and racial equity
- We have great people and communication skills
- We are passionate about workplace equity and democracy
- We are a small, agile, remote, and fast-moving team
- We strive to collaborate, bringing our expertise to bear and seeking answers and guidance from others
Project Equity is an independent operating project of the nonprofit umbrella organization, Multiplier, a nationally recognized nonprofit with a growing portfolio of innovative initiatives that conserve and protect a sustainable and resilient world (www.multiplier.org)
Multiplier and Project Equity celebrate diversity and are committed to building teams and partnerships that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Multiplier and Project Equity are also committed to providing an environment of mutual respect that is free from discrimination and harassment. Multiplier and Project Equity prohibit discrimination in its governance, programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, marital status, amnesty, status as a covered veteran, because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from public assistance, or for any other non-merit based factor.
To apply
Please email a resume and cover letter to tyler@project-equity.org by Wednesday, March 27, 2024. In your cover letter (approximately one page in length), please explain what you hope to get out of this volunteer experience, what motivates you to work with Project Equity, and how your education, experience, and skills align with the goals of this project.
Learn more at www.project-equity.org.
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