Monthly Archives: June 2022

By choice, or out of necessity, how people make a living is undergoing fundamental change, said Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future (IFTF), a 50-year-old nonprofit research and educational organization based in Palo Alto, CA. Her remarks closed the IFTFs 14th annual conference, held this past April at The Center for Transformative Action at Mills College.

The conference, titled The Great Awakening: Redefining Work, Values, and Purpose, featured current questions, problems, and opportunities regarding the world of work. In light of the intense economic shift underway as workers continue to resign in record numbers and the labor movement experiences renewed energy, the conference sought to identify shifting perceptions about work, values, purpose, and justice. Its wide-ranging audience and participantsincluding grassroots leaders, business owners, politicians, social movement activists, and entrepreneursshared their insights, successes, and struggles to survive during unprecedented times.

Featured speakers included directors and leaders at several major nonprofit organizationsincluding the Institute for the Future, Common Future, Jobs with Justice, the Ford Foundation, Conscious Culture, and others all of whom iterated variations on Gorbis concluding theme: The way we work is not pre-ordained.

In 2021, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made almost $213 million, or 6,474 times the companys median worker salary of $32,855. The company claimed that the lions share of that number came from a stock award that Jassy received when he was made CEO after Jeff Bezos stepped down. This practice is not particular to Amazon: in the past three decades, CEO pay has soared by over 1,322 percent, while typical worker compensation has risen only 18 percent. These figures are so disproportionate because stock options have become an outsized form of compensation for those in the C-suite.

What this means, Marina Gorbis explained in her keynote address, is that while income inequality is a popular paradigm for understanding what is wrong with the economy, wealth inequality is ten times worse. Wealth derives in large part from income, but it also consists of assets such as pension funds, savings accounts, and homeowner equity. Before the onset of deindustrialization in the 1970s, which was accompanied by a political assault on the labor movement, jobs in the US afforded those workers who were allowed to belong to unions benefits and security, creating the middle class. In contrast, according to research done by IFTFs Equitable Enterprise Initiative, most businesses in the US today do not enable their employees to build wealth for long-term economic security.

To understand why work has changed, we must look to the economy at large. For one, newer platform technology companiessuch as Uber, Airbnb, and Snapchatare much smaller than the manufacturing giants of decades past. Some of Americas wealthiest, highest-wage companiesincluding Apple and Microsofthave fewer than half a million employees. For example, Meta Platforms, better known as Facebook, employs just over 70,000 staff, with an average salary of over $250,000. In contrast, mega-corporations like Amazon and Walmart, which together employ over three million people, pay median salaries of around $30,000. This means that the largest employers in the United States are low-wage ones.

The organization and operation of the wealthiest businesses in the US drive both income and wealth inequality, Gorbis stated. The only solution to rectify this inequality is a shift towards more equitable enterprise, defined by IFTF as business structures and strategies that equitably distribute economic assets among those who contribute to the value of the business.

The keynote address emphasized that the way we work can change because it is based on things that are always in flux: social and cultural norms, available technologies and scientific knowledge, regulatory regimes, power dynamics, labor availability, and the social safety net. Work has been shifting towards an asset-poor model, Gorbis explained, ruled by short-term contracts, poor pay, and minimal benefits, and constituted by piece-meal tasksa trend that will eventually reach all sectors.

How do we rework the future? As an organization, IFTFs mission is to offer skills and context to forecast what will happen in the economy, public policy, and technology. As futurists, Gorbis declared, were not just looking at the future. A lot of our work is going into the past and understanding history, and why this is happening in larger patterns. To guide this work, the Equitable Enterprise Initiative maps out the following levers with which to shape economic transformation:

Guided by these questions, the nonprofit sector can mitigate inequality by transforming the economy, labor, and technological infrastructure.

About a year ago, UK think tank Autonomy released a report on a groundbreaking experiment: the four-day work week. The trial was conducted in Iceland with 2,500 participantsmore than one percent of the countrys workforceand was a massive success. Participants reported lowered stress levels, more energy and focus, and better work-life balance. Supervisors too said that employees were happier and worked harder.

The four-day work week and other workplace policy changes were discussed at Transforming Time and Space: Organizational and Policy Innovations that Center Human Wellness, a panel moderated by Alex Soojun-Kim Pang, Global Programs Manager at 4 Day Week Globalthe nonprofit coalition that ran the Iceland trial. Four US-based nonprofit panelists discussed their experiences with workplace changes that were implemented to enhance employee wellbeing. Hilary Abell, co-founder and Chief Policy and Impact Officer at Project Equity, an organization that builds economic resiliency in low-income communities, set the tone: income and wealth inequality, the worsening racial wealth gap, and the decline and concentration of homeownership are all happening in a financialized economy where working people lose and investors win big.

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In this context, we have an opportunity to examine assumptions about organizational structure and policy, said VP of Common Future, Joanna Lee Wagner. As an organization that often speaks truth to powerwhether its to philanthropy or funders, or just the way that nonprofits operate in generalwe really saw it as a chance to look into and challenge these assumptions. Common Future is mostly led by women of color. Changing its priorities to include the teams wellness was a way to better realize the organizations project of realizing racial and economic justice. Policy changes aim to recognize the invisible labor that is involved, not only in the work that we doin a justice-oriented organization, but also the invisible labor that happens at home as caretakers, as leaders in our community. It isnt just about changing working hours, the panelists agreed, its about changing our attitude towards work and what makes a good worker.

Business as usual is not only no longer appealingits no longer effective, said Heatherly Bucher, Executive Director of Conscious Culture. Bucher encouraged managers and leaders to follow the organizations motto to bridge execution with humanity, warning that prioritizing productivity at the expense of employees leads to burnout. Instead, organizations can use time as a forcing function, limiting hours to get work done in less time while also allowing for leisure.

Revaluing time at work is a win-win for both organizations and the people that work at them. When asked to share her experience working at a company with a four-day workweek, Panelist Tamilore Oladipo, a content writer at Buffer, put it succinctly: I have more time to be a person outside of work.

What could workers do if they had more control over their time? Right now, most US employees work at low-wage jobs with long hours, leaving them little time for leisure, let alone participation in civil society. If workplaces are run in undemocratic and authoritarian ways, so are the societies in which they exist and operate.

In a fireside chat, Sarita Gupta, Director of the Future of Work(ers) at the Ford Foundation, and Erica Smiley, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice, discussed the economic piece of democracy, how to actualize the vision of multiracial democracy in the US and how working people can apply their collective bargaining power outside the workplace. What would it take for the majority of working people to negotiate their conditions, not only with their employers, but also with the other powerful entities that control their lives?

Centering the struggles of people who have been historically left out of labor protections is a strategy to combat the ways that government and capital reproduce racism and other forms of exclusion. Gupta pointed to the domestic workers movement as key to understanding the central role of the labor movement in struggles against white supremacy and gender discrimination. We should be clear that there is entrenched white supremacy and patriarchy that has shaped labor laws in this country, Gupta explained. Domestic workers, like nannies, are excluded from some of the most foundational legislation for worker rights, such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. This deliberate exclusion, which also applies to agricultural workers, is a direct legacy of sexism and of slavery and political compromises between politicians who sought to appease plantation owners during the formation of the New Deal.

In the last decade, however, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) has advocated for and built a strong movement to secure basic protections and benefits for house cleaners and care providers. The organization has won standards for fair treatmentsuch as the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, for example, which requires employers to provide workers with written agreements covering wages, benefits, sick leave, and other matters pertaining to employmentin 10 states.

This work is not happening in the policy arena alone, Gupta added. NDWA has also advanced changes to Handy, the biggest online platform for cleaning workers, where housecleaners can book cleaning jobs and other domestic employment. The Gig Worker Advocates of the NDWA piloted an agreement with the app that guarantees paid time off, a $15 hourly minimum wage, occupational accident protections, and monthly meetings to discuss workplace issuesthe first agreement of its kind negotiated with a platform company.

Pointing to a map titled Path to Power, which provided a visual overview of civic engagement, labor protections, and democratic participation in the US, Smiley explained that one of the most exciting aspects of NDWAs Handy campaign wins is that they happened in states like Florida, Indiana, and Kentucky, where the erosion of democratic standards is highly advanced. In other words, workers living in places where unions and progressive politicians have limited political power turned a policy weakness into a protective agreement.

Smiley turned to the efforts of essential workers in Harris County, TX including construction, airport, and retail workerswho built a coalition during the COVID-19 pandemic to advocate for their collective rights outside of traditional labor protections. After being defined as essential to the economy, these workerswho were historically underpaid and undervaluedenjoyed newfound political visibility. They went from a position of exclusion to a position of power, Smiley explained, demanding decision-making power and negotiating with the government and their respective industries over safety protocols, compensation, and protections.

When Texas was hit with a terrible ice storm in the middle of the campaign, workers fought even harder, pointing out that they were more essential than ever. Working through a pandemic and an extreme weather event, they proved that their contributions to the economy were indeed indispensable. They broadened the scope of their efforts and solidified the case for an essential worker board, which would address workers experiences during any crisis, not just the one brought on by the pandemic. What the pandemic proved, Smiley concluded, is that were all better when working people have decision-making ability. Smiley laughed. Its so simple.

In a healthy democracy, everyday people find power in their collective voice and actions. Smiley and Gupta highlight such collective action in their forthcoming book, The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy for the Twenty-First Century, pointing out the various contexts and strategies in and through which working people have won better work conditions and more power and autonomy in the workplace.

Overall, the conference drew together these threads of rising inequality, redesigning workplace values, and building worker power. In their mission to realize social equality, nonprofit organizations have an opportunity to change their workplaces and campaigns to reverse inequality, reflect their stated values, and encourage democracy. The event was an excellent overview of the work it will take to do so, and the urgency of the project.

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The Great Awakening: Redefining Work, Values, and Purpose - Non Profit News - Nonprofit Quarterly

Biden administration officials promised to end the abhorrent practice of modern slavery across the world as a ban on goods from Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region goes into effect Tuesday, bringing with it an unprecedented level of scrutiny into the supply chains of everything from clothing to solar panels.

Our department is committed to ending the abhorrent practice of forced labor around the globe, including in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the Peoples Republic of China continues to systemically oppress and exploit Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority communities, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas said at the launch of the Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced or Manufactured With Forced Labor in the Peoples Republic of China on Friday. We must combat these inhumane and exploitative practices while ensuring that legitimate goods can enter our ports and reach American businesses and consumers as quickly as possible.

Published by the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), the strategy is the culmination of months of robust engagement with brands, suppliers, Congress and other key stakeholders over the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which prohibits any product made in whole or in part in Xinjiang from entering the United States unless importers can provide clear and convincing evidence that forced labor wasnt involved in its mining or manufacture. It comes amid an explosion of anger at United Nations human-rights chief Michelle Bachelet for having whitewashed the Chinese governments human-rights abuses, which it has repeatedly denied, during a recent visit.

The importation of goods made using forced labor is an affront to human rights and our national values, said Robert Silvers, under-secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security. Forced labor places legitimate manufacturers, domestically and abroad, at a competitive disadvantage. I am honored to serve as the chair of the FLETF, a body that leads our governments response to this scourge. The strategy that we have delivered to Congress will produce meaningful progress in combating the use of forced labor while we continue to facilitate lawful trade.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply the rebuttable presumption under the UFLPA to detain, exclude, or seize and forfeit shipments linked to Chinese forced labor beginning June 21. Operational guidance from the agency recommends that importers map their supply chains to the raw material level, particularly high-risk commodities such as cotton and tomatoes. It also advises companies importing goods from outside China to conduct their due diligence given that products may be shipped to third countriesfor further processing.

When requested, importers should be able to trace the complete supply chain of the product under CBP review, the guidance noted. This includes detailed descriptions of how it was made, by which entities and where, including all in-house manufacturing, sub-assembly operations and outsourced production. Where possible, unique identifiers should be used to track raw materials and other inputs as they move downstream. And when raw materials or inputs from different suppliers are commingled, there should be an auditable process for demonstrating the origin and control of each raw material or input.

While DNA traceability or isotopic testing may make it possible to identify the origin of particular goods or materials without tracing the supply chain, their reliability must be proven for such evidence to be considered. To obtain an exception to the UFLPA presumption, the importer must provide clear and convincing evidence showing that indicators of forced labor, including intimidation and threats, abuse of vulnerability, restriction of movement, isolation, excessive hours and abusive living and working conditions either do not exist or have been fully remediated.

The UFLPA enforcement strategy demonstrates the Biden administrations unwavering commitment to fully enforce our laws prohibiting the import of goods made by forced labor into the United States, said U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. It highlights our resolve to fight against the economic exploitation and human-rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the Peoples Republic of China. This enforcement strategy will help us in our work to eliminate this practice from our global supply chains.

In an open letter published Tuesday, the Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region urged all companies with global sourcing operations to comply fully with the UFLPA and apply a single global standard, consistent with the requirements of the law, across their entire supply chain for all retail markets. The civil-society organization, which includes Anti-Slavery International, the Clean Clothes Campaign, the Uyghur Human Rights Project and Worker Rights Consortium, also urged brands and suppliers to refrain from re-exporting any goods denied entry to the United States under the UFLPA to other markets.

Operating in the Uyghur region in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights has become a practical impossibility, the coalition wrote. There are no valid means for companies to verify that any workplace in the Uyghur region is free of forced labor or to prevent the use of forced labor in these workplaces in line with human-rights due diligence; therefore, business[es] must operate on the assumption that all products produced in part or in whole in the Uyghur region are at high risk of being tainted by forced labor.

Though the coalition said it welcomed steps taken by lawmakers worldwide to prevent companies from profiting from forced labor, including the European Unions draft corporate sustainability due diligence directive, only a universal stance will prevent other countries from becoming dumping grounds for goods tainted with modern slavery. All nations, but in particular Australia, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and EU member states, should embrace robust measures to ban the import of products made with forced labor, it added.

Meanwhile, brands and retailers arent off the hook. There is significant, credible documentation that Uyghur forced labor is used in global supply chains across a number of sectors, the coalition said. All companies must fully extricate their supply chains from the Uyghur region to ensure they are not complicit in human-rights abuses. Further, companies must prevent the use of forced labor in facilities elsewhere that use workers forcibly transferred from the Uyghur region, including by ending relationships.

It was partly in response to the UFLPA that Sourcemap, a New York-based supply-chain transparency company, developed its Forced Labor Compliance Platform to help businesses meet evolving human-rights standards. Unveiled publicly Thursday, the platform attracted more than 3,000 companies in advance of the UFLPAs enactment.

Members of the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement protest Chinas treatment of Uyghurs, during a protest near the State Department, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021, in Washington.

The system is an expansion of what Sourcemap has always done, Leonardo Bonanni, the firms founder and CEO, told Sourcing Journal. It helps companies grapple with the chain-of-custody challenge by focusing on the verification of data from entities within their supply chains down to raw material suppliers. This includes an automatic classification of suppliers through forced-labor risk heat maps for increased due diligence, the collection of all documentation required to validate the chain of custody, and real-time monitoring of suppliers and overall supply chain risk exposure to conditions such as sanctions, affiliations and negative news reports.

The Forced Labor Compliance Platform also automatically generates chain-of-custody and compliance reports of individual shipments in response to CBP inquiries and Withhold Release Orders.

We basically are introducing something called Verified by Sourcemap, where every container that enters U.S. ports [via the platform] has been mapped and traced using Sourcemap, Bonanni said. That means we have all the documentation we need and that all of it has been checked for consistency and completion. And its not enough to just trace products that are coming from China. Our job here is to do a broad sweep of a companys supply chain, map every raw material down to the origin and then gather enough information to look for patterns of waste or fraud or abuse at any stage.

Sourcemap is able to do this by digitizing transactions from every supplier in every link of the supply chain and then applying big data analytics to give its customers a thumbs up or thumbs down so that they know which shipments have sufficient documentation and which need additional work. And we give them that information long before the goods have actually left for the U.S. so that they can put in a corrective action plan and collect the missing data and work out the problems with their suppliers, Bonanni said.

The process for collecting the evidence that a company needs to be compliant with the UFLPA can take as little as three months, he said, noting that the fashion industry has become Sourcemaps biggest customer, helping it grow 10-fold since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The new law, Bonanni added, marks a huge shift in the responsibility the businesses have over their supply chains. And where supply-chain mapping and tracing was challenging a decade ago, its now eminently possible.

The ULFPA is a turning point where no company can ignore its raw materials, its suppliers, he said. Its really a leadership position that the U.S. government is taking worldwide in enforcing the ban of forced labor and because of that, its become so much easier to do this because now every company that exports to the U.S. has to respond. [Businesses are] all providing traceability and transparency in their supply chain. And theyre providing it much more quickly than ever before.

What this regulation has done is [create] a level playing field so anybody who wants to do business in the U.S. needs to map their supply chains, Bonanni added. And theres simply no excuse not to.

But some companies are more prepared for the regulatory onslaught than others, said Clare Bartram, ESG specialist, modern slavery, at Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a global investment advisory firm. While its research indicates that 84 percent of textiles, apparel and luxury goods companies have operations in China, nearly one-third (30 percent) are considered laggard performers in their modern-slavery risk mitigation, meaning they lack transparent and robust policies and procedures to identify and address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chain.

ISS released last week a modern slavery scorecard to enable investors to identify, evaluate and prioritize modern slavery risks in their global portfolios while supporting any supply-chain reporting. Already, it covers roughly 7,4000 issuers globally. This number will grow on a regular basis to meet client demand, it said.

Aside from the clear moral case, we saw that there was a strong business case to address modern slavery for both investors but also for their portfolio companies, Bartram told Sourcing Journal. But the challenge is that this is a hidden crime, and its typically concealed in the lower tiers of the supply chain.

The trend toward single-issue legislation like forced labor and broader mandatory human-rights due diligence aside, ISS is seeing increasing reputational risks related to modern slavery, especially with the impact of the pandemic on global supply chains. The EU and U.S.s measures aside, New Zealand has just proposed modern slavery legislation which would apply to investment and lending activity. Australia, too, is looking at tightening up its modern slavery regime, including the possible appointment of an anti-slavery commissioner. All of this has accelerated investors drive to address modern slavery.

The ISS scorecard leverages data and insights from three of the firms ESG solutionsthe ESG Corporate Rating, Norm-Based Research and the ESG Country Ratingto assess issuers on 25 quantitative and qualitative factors. Because of the limits of good data, what the scorecard does is situate modern slavery within the broader labor rights and human rights context by using red flags such as wage underpayment or hazardous working conditions as proxies for modern slavery risks.

Its a really valuable tool for supporting investors, Bartram said. They can use those data points to identify leading and laggard companies to monitor where theyre exposed to unsavory controversies, and then use some of those more granular data points to inform their engagement objectives and dialogue.

Investors can play an important role in driving improvements in corporate practice in high-risk regions like Xinjiang, she said. Using the scorecard for engagement allows investors to have a more tailored dialogue with companies to encourage them to improve their policies and processes.

One of the key challenges connected to the region is that the risks extend to other regions of China, where several sources, including the UN, suggest Uyghur and other ethnic minority workers may be transferred to factories and subject to exploitative working conditions, Bartram said. Investors, through engagement, can set expectations for companies operating in, or sourcing from, China, to carry out enhanced human-rights due diligence to ensure they are not linked to forced labor.

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The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is Now in Effect - Sourcing Journal

In honor of Juneteenth this year, The Brooklyn Bank, also known as BKBNK, assembled some of the biggest, most influential wealth-building leaders and game changers to offer attendees financial knowledge at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. The free, one-day event was hosted by Brooklyn Bank CEO Jude Bernard and co-hosted by The Breakfast Clubs Angela Yee. DJ Skatz provided the catchy tunes of the day choosing to make hip-hop the unofficial soundtrack of the event.

The first-of-its-kind financial forum featured several panels, discussions, and workshops with powerhouses such as NY Times best-selling Personal Finance Educator Tiffany The Budgetnista Aliche, Award-Winning Educator, Dr. Jatali Bellanton, and Earn Your Leisure podcast hosts, Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings, to name a few.

BET.com was there for it all. Heres a look back at some of the highlights from this Juneteenth's incredible forum.

From beginning to end, the theater was packed with attendees from all over New York City. Most were Gen X, with a few millennials sprinkled in. There were a fair amount of couples, groups of girlfriends, and even one woman carrying her months-old baby. I sat behind a woman who attended with two pre-teens. As the panelists gave advice and tips, she glanced at them eagerly throughout the event to make sure they were taking notes.

When I first walked in the theater it was completely quiet, but once Bernard took the stage, the energy in the room immediately changed. The crowd stood up and gave him a standing ovation. Since the event also coincided with Fathers Day, Bernard gave a shout out to all of the fathers in the room. He asked half of the audience to scream out real estate money and the other half to yell stocks money, for a minute or so, which kept the crowd buzzing with excitement.

Just like how the slaves did not know that they were free for years, is the same way we dont know that we have access to financial freedom for years, he stated.

Bernard also shared the reason why he is so focused on bringing financial literacy to the Black community. I hate being the only one in the room, I hate when Im on a first class flight and somebody asks me, so what do you do, like its strange because Black wealth is not normalized. Many of yall that can get the information, so come and join me.

As business gurus Tiffany the Budgetnista, Sabine Franco, Ellie Diop, Sheneya Wilson, Shaquanna Brooks, Tonya Rapley, and Aristotle Varner all took the stage, the electricity in the room made you understand that you were someplace important about to receive the details of a mission you have been tasked to complete. One of the nations top personal finance experts Ash Cash moderated the panel as each of these brilliant minds gave valuable financial advice on how to start a business and the power of investing especially during a time when many are fearful of a recession. The main focus of the discussion was the best way to establish credit, build generational wealth, and make your money work for you.

Ellie Diop, founder of the YouTube show, Ellie Talks Money, stressed the importance of becoming recession rich, and clarified that theres never going to be a perfect time to start a business. We cant rely on a job or on one string of income. Now is the time to form that LLC, take your skills that you already have and give it to the marketplace, build your business credit, and make sure you have multiple streams of funding. That is how were going to make sure we stay above the recession.

Aristotle Varner is a military-veteran and the founder of Aristotle Investments. He shared his advice for making smart moves with your money. Plant seeds nowseeds turn into trees. You have to know what stocks are going to last during the recession and buy when people are fearful.

Real estate investor and entrepreneur Jullien Gordon encouraged people to look deeper, way beyond their vision boards if they want to reach true success and find ways to change their mindset around wealth.

Your financial systems are broken, shared Gordon. It's not about how much money you accumulate, its how much you circulate. The only way to get financial freedom is investing. Slavery is not over, we are still dealing with mental and monetary slavery.

He also explained that while many of us are more interested in purchasing the most expensive shoes and clothes, too many of us have never thought deeper about investing our money into anything bigger. The sentiment made the crowd nod in agreement.

Storm Leroy, Reshauna Scott, Welby Accely, Brian Waldron and Dr, Jatali Bellanton sat down with entrepreneur and mortgage banker, Matt Garland to discuss how to be a bonafide player in the real estate game. Throughout the panel, the recurring theme was how to manage a fear of the unknown, especially within the current state of our economy.

Do not listen to fearmongers. This is exactly what weve been waiting for; this is your time. Don't run away from the fire, run to the fire. This is where you want to be, shared Welby Accely, a multiple, multi-unit rental owner and house flipper.

Real estate investor and entrepreneur Storm Leroy, discussed the importance of taking action, instead of waiting for the market to change.

Act your wage. If you have $10,000, there is somewhere you can buy a house. If you have $20,000, there is somewhere you can buy a house, shared Leroy. Youre doing this for your legacy. This is bigger than everybody in here. This isnt about your children. Its about your childrens children.

One of the more popular discussions featured Earn Your Leisure podcast hosts Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings who have become wealth building powerhouses. The hosts talked about how they developed their brand and podcast, the importance of having something to offer, and getting people to like you, which has clearly been part of their recipe for success.

I want to encourage everybody to do yourself a favor, take the time out to use resources to educate yourself because this revolution will be monetized and you already know its going to be televised, said Millings, in his lessons on how to elevate and expand a business.

After Bernard thanked everyone for coming out, I got up from my seat and walked into the lobby. It was still packed to the brim with attendees who were newly filled with the knowledge to better secure their financial futures. As people mingled with old friends and networked with new friends. I could clearly see that every person had been touched by what they experienced that day. The hope is that with this newfound sense of power on Juneteenth, Black people will finally be able to achieve freedom in every sense of the word.

Ali McPherson is a freelancer based in New York City.

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The Black Money Forum: Top Experts Come Together To Teach Lessons On How To Make, Keep, And Enhance Your Money - BET

Stories like Cayanan's are not uncommon, Luciano said. Most undocumented migrants immigrate legally but lose their status due to problems with employers or changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program. In 2013, Alberta had 77,000 TFWs living and working in the province. Five years later, that number had dropped by 60% to 32,000, according to a report from the Parkland Institute, leaving thousands to either face removal or remain without status.

"They're good enough to work for us, but not good enough to be allowed to become citizens," said Alvin Finkel, president of the Alberta Labour History Institute. "We have to get rid of this idea of temporary work, there's really no such thing. People are coming here to do jobs. These jobs are ongoing."

Finkel pointed to the restaurant industry, where Cayanan primarily worked while a part of the TFW program, as an example of work that is ongoing, but where the workers are classed as temporary. In the current system, migrant workers are tied to a single employer, who has the power to decide whether their contracts will be extended or terminated.

"If things don't work out with that employer, then that person has to go back. So that means, for example, when a worker is sexually exploited by the employer, or is made to do dangerous work that is not legal in this country, if they refuse or they complain about it, then the employer has the perfect right to fire them and send them back home," Finkel said. "So you have women working, essentially, in sexual slavery here. You have both men and women forced to do work that violates human rights laws in this country violates labour laws in this country. It's disgusting."

Cayanan herself reported abuse from a manager at the employer she first worked for in Edmonton, and said that female temporary workers at her location faced sexual exploitation and harassment.

There is no exact figure for the number of undocumented workers in Alberta. In 2020, the Parkland Institute put the number between 10,000 and 20,000, but Luciano said there are anecdotal projections that estimate as many as 50,000.

"Many of them have been living in Edmonton, in Alberta, for a long time five years, 10 years, 20 years and they are able to find jobs, to find a place to live through their own underground network," Luciano said. These networks allow people to find employment by cleaning, working in kitchens, or doing other cash jobs. Because of their status, they are again often exploited by their employers, being paid less than minimum wage and subject to abuse.

To address the precarity experienced by migrants, the City of Edmonton introduced the Access Without Fear policy in 2018, which made it easier to access city services and programs.

"The vast majority of City of Edmonton services and programs do not require proof of identification or income verification, and are accessible to all residents regardless of immigration status," a spokesperson for the City of Edmonton said. The variety of types of identification that are accepted was also expanded, and safeguards are in place to ensure the type of ID provided remains confidential.

As of May 1, Alberta signalled it was again looking to expand its reliance on temporary foreign workers, lifting restrictions and removing the nearly 500 occupations on the "refusal to process" list that limited temporary workers to select industries. The federal government has also announced it intends to make it easier for newcomers to become permanent residents, but it is unclear how this will affect undocumented people already in the country or whether it would address the churning of immigrants and deportations caused by fluctuations in existing programs.

"Whatever happens to Vangie, it's important to look deeper into this whole deportation culture," Luciano said. "There are many, many migrants here that were invited to come to Canada to work under the program, but they're not invited to stay. They cherry-pick who they want to stay. And all those that are not, they deport. Meanwhile, they open the borders for new temporary foreign workers."

In a statement to Taproot, the Department of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship said that all foreign nationals are expected to maintain legal status while in Canada, and that migrant workers have the same rights to workplace protections under applicable federal, provincial, and territorial employment standards and collective agreements as Canadians and permanent residents do.

This story has been updated to include the immigration department's statement.

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Mother and advocate wages final campaign to avoid deportation - Taproot Edmonton