Research Reports and Policy Briefs

2022

Building Workplaces Where Women Can Thrive: Centering Equity at the Intersection of Gender and Race

The best jobs engage their employees in meaningful work they can be proud of, recognize workers and their achievements, and encourage a sense of belonging to the workplace and workforce. These supports should address both basic needs like livable wages and safe working conditions, as well as higher-level concerns like equitable and inclusive work environments. In this white paper, we outline what it means to build an equitable workplace, and why both basic and higher-level supports are necessary to ensure women can be effective, productive, and successful at work.

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2022

Intersecting Barriers: Challenges to Economic Empowerment for Domestic Violence Survivors

This research report, produced with support from the Michael Reese Health Trust, introduces the results of new research investigating the needs and gaps faced by survivors of domestic violence in the Chicago metropolitan area, and leverage the insights of workforce development professionals, domestic violence advocates, and survivors themselves in recommending policy and practice solutions.

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2020

Advancing Racial Equity in Higher Education: Lessons from the States

While developing recommendations for how Illinois can take a comprehensive approach to racial equity in higher education, Women Employed conducted a landscape scan of states’ plans, policies, and initiatives to inform our recommendations. This document highlights efforts that Illinois can learn from and adapt, while specific recommendations for Illinois are available in the companion brief, “Advancing Racial Equity in Illinois Higher Education.”

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2020

Advancing Racial Equity in Illinois Higher Education

Read our recommendations to close racial equity gaps in enrollment, completion, and affordability in Illinois higher education.

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2020

Women Employed’s 2020 Priorities

Making college affordable, accessible, and equitable. Strengthening career pathways to family-sustaining wages. Improving job quality for all working people. Advancing gender equity at work. Read about Women Employed’s 2020 priorities.

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2018

Progress, Pathways, and Possibilities: How a Shared Vision Put a System to Work

This piece takes the reader through the different parts of our work to establish and expand career pathways in Chicago and Illinois, beginning with Shifting Gears in the early 2000s and looking forward to a yet-unrealized future. It includes bridge programs, Career Foundations, and the career pathways definition, as well as stories from students and detail about how progress on career pathways has been made.

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2015

Good for Students, Good for Colleges: Bridge Programs Investments and Returns Worksheet

This worksheet is a companion to the policy brief, Good for Students, Good for Colleges: Investing in Bridge Programs as a Strategy for Success to allow colleges to calculate their projected return on investment for implementing bridge programs.

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2015

Good for Students, Good for Colleges: Investing in Bridge Programs as a Strategy for Success

Community colleges are at a crossroads. Pressure is mounting to increase enrollment and improve retention. At the same time, there are millions of adults who would benefit from a college education, but who lack a high school degree. Bridge programs provide a solution that will serve these adults, improve college enrollment and retention numbers, and even generate revenue for colleges.

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2014

Tackling Unstable and Unpredictable Work Schedules

Unpredictable and unstable work schedules leave many workers in a constant state of economic instability and personal turmoil. This policy brief explores scheduling problems and highlights policy solutions and employer practices that would allow workers the time and economic security they need to care for their families, while also helping employers maximize the value their workers provide.

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2013

Fourth Year Sophomores? Improving Remedial Student Outcomes in Illinois

Fifty-one percent of first-time community college students in Illinois take remedial or developmental courses before they can start college-level coursework, and too many never graduate. This policy brief outlines clear steps that colleges and policymakers can take to ensure that only the right students are enrolled in remedial classes and that coursework is focused on the right content, and includes strategies to prevent students from getting stuck in long-term developmental sequences and dropping out.

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Together, we will ensure more women, families, and communities can build their economic power and thrive.

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