Background
IWF’s advocacy on behalf of low-income families with other groups in the state led to the formation of the Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods Coalition in 2002. Because of problems with the economy and patterns of economic growth in the Milwaukee area, W-2 participants face more difficulty finding and keeping good jobs. Job creation in the city, where the majority of the region's poor people live, has lagged far behind the suburbs. The city’s economic conditions do not provide for stable full-time employment for wage earners.
As a result, job seekers face a significant shortage of family-supporting jobs and must travel to suburban centers to find work. Lack of affordable housing options in suburban areas limits low-income people to living in the city center. Commuting to work is made more difficult by an inadequate public transportation system and high gas prices.
The Good Jobs & Livable Neighborhoods Coalition (GJLN) was designed to improve economic conditions in the city of Milwaukee. Its goal was to leverage city and county financial support for development projects so that the projects would benefit the entire community by providing family-supporting jobs, skill training opportunities, environmentally-friendly development practices, and resources for affordable housing. In addition, GJLN also wanted to make sure locally-owned businesses a real opportunity to compete for development funds.
The Coalition included a broad spectrum of community partners, including faith-based, labor, environmental, advocacy, neighborhood, and other progressive groups. Its philosophy centered around a community benefits agreement (CBA). A CBA would require developers asking for public assistance for their projects to meet a series of criteria in order to receive that assistance including local hiring, job training, and a commitment to affordable housing. The goal was to pass local legislation that would ensure that developers would not receive tax incentives or other public assistance for their developments in Milwaukee unless they agreed to the CBA conditions.
Good Jobs & Livable Neighborhoods achieved its first major success in 2005, when they succeeded in passing a community benefits agreement with the Milwaukee County Board, which ensured that new development in the Park East area of Milwaukee would include a CBA. The Park East Redevelopment Compact (PERC) was the first step in bringing economic opportunity to the broader community.
Good Jobs & Livable Neighborhoods takes off
In 2007, Good Jobs & Livable Neighborhoods became an independent 501c3 organization and in 2009 merged with Citizen Action of Wisconsin. As a project of Citizen Action, Good Jobs and Livable Neighborhoods works to improve employment conditions and to organize for responsible economic development policy and practices in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Find out more here.