The Clean Energy Economy is Coming! – with Rachel Korberg of the Families and Workers Fund and David Etzwiler of the Siemens Foundation –  Transcript

Kirk: [00:00:00] Welcome to, let’s Hear It.

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Kirk: Well said Eric. And I’m Kirk.

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Welcome in. You found us. We’re here. We’re here for you. You’re here for us. Mr. Brown. You’re here For all of us, it’s Let’s hear it. Thanks for joining us. Who’s here for who? Wait, I’m, I’m I, [00:01:00] everyone’s, you know what? We’re here for. I am about to lose my mind again. I’m about to lose my mind. The timing of this conversation, it’s so timely and it’s happening just before the election.

Yes, though It’s gonna be published after the election. No, I think we’re gonna

Eric: be go. We’re gonna go up before the election. Kirk, let’s beat the election beat the please. Because in this brief shining moment when the world is pure. And we are all safe and sane before things happen. Before a certain matter hits certain circular room circulation devices.

So can I tell you, we can just all just be

Kirk: who we are, right? Set this up because this conversation, this conversation is what this entire insane enterprise, this election this’s in front of us is about. It’s this, it’s what’s happening here. And so set it up and then we have a lot to talk about. We [00:02:00] have a lot to talk about.

Eric: Alright, well I’m gonna set it up. Should I set it up Kirk?

Kirk: You set this up. This is so good. And by the way, David and Rachel, thank you. Thank you for coming on our air. Thank you for the work you’re doing. But set this up. There’s a lot. There’s a lot to talk about I setting.

Eric: Alright, so I spoke with Rachel Korberg, who’s the executive director and co-founder of the Families and Workers Fund.

And David Etzwiler, the CEO of the Siemens Foundation. And we talked about how we are going to create an economy that works for everyone because we can, how’s that?

Kirk: It is excellent. So, Rachel Korberg, executive Director of the Families and Workers Fund, and David Etzwiler, CEO of the Siemens Foundation. Let’s listen to this.

Listen closely, everybody, and there is a PhD dissertation that we’ve gotta untangle out on the other side of this. Okay? Listen very closely. Take

Eric: take notes. Don’t miss a word.

Kirk: This is Rachel and David on, let’s Hear It. [00:03:00]

Eric: Welcome to Let’s Hear It. My guests today are Rachel Korberg, the executive director and Co-founder of the Families and Workers Fund, and David Etzwiler, the CEO of the Siemens Foundation.

So we’re gonna talk today about how to create an economy that works for everybody because, and we are gonna stress this. Such a thing is not only possible, but it’s gonna happen. So thank you to the both of you for coming on the show.

Rachel: Thank you for having us. I’m a big fan of, of the pod and I’m glad to be teaming up with David today.

David: Yeah, di ditto on that. It’s great to be on the podcast and Rachel, always good to be with you and Eric, you and I are just getting to know each other, but I’m looking forward to the conversation.

Eric: This is gonna be fun. Okay. First I have the issue, A disclaimer. Uh, this conversation is being recorded before election day.

So by the time folks are listening to this, the world, as we know, it may be all sweetness and light or, um. Maybe it won’t be. And it may be that we don’t know a lot for a period of time if past, uh, performance is [00:04:00] any predictor. Uh, sometimes these things take a little while to shake out. So I, I just wanna kind of remind folks that it’s not like we are living in some kind of alternate universe.

It’s just that many things that will have happened by the time you’re listening have not yet happened. So, with that in mind, we’re gonna have a conversation about the future, which is going to happen. I am told. So let’s start with you, Rachel. Can you just talk a little bit about the families and workers fund?

Rachel: Yes. And we also have to disclaim that this is being recorded before Halloween, which as a parent of a five-year-old is another important precipice we’re standing on. So that’s a very good point. I hadn’t thought about that. Yes. So, um, the Families and Workers Fund is a $125 million pooled fund that focuses on building an economy.

That is exactly what you described, Eric. That truly works for everyone. We were founded in the first Covid Winter by the Ford Foundation and Eric and Wendy [00:05:00] Schmidt Futures. But today we’ve really gone beyond that initial emergency response focus where we wanted to. Help confront the financial and economic crisis facing workers and families.

We’re now looking much more broadly at what it takes to create an economy of opportunity and of economic security. And we have a group of about, um, more than 20 actively engaged, uh, donors and other partners. And a really diverse group from, um, corporate foundation leaders like David to family philanthropies, to private foundations.

So today that includes, you know, the Gates Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, open Society Foundation, JPB Foundation. I. And what all of us really have in common is this focus that we can do better by people in terms of, um, their shot at economic mobility and this guarantee of basic economic security for all.

We, we should not be in a country where folks are [00:06:00] unable to get by and, and don’t have a chance at having their talent recognized and getting ahead.

Eric: And David, so Siemens Foundation is a manufacturing conglomerate. I see. You know, you see the ads on PBS and all these other places. It’s one of those places that I think about is, is like this, this massive thing that has to do with, um, you know, manufacturing, building things.

And, and in my own mind, because I don’t know, I think we often come up with these ideas about what we think business is. You think, why would they care about. Building an economy that works for all. Don’t these big corporations just care about making their thing and selling it and making a profit? Yeah.

And so can you talk a little bit about how you end up doing this sort of work and how Siemens supports this? I think far better way of looking at the future, but something that you might feel a little bit almost counterintuitive. I, uh, without offending any nice people in, in manufacturing.

David: For sure. [00:07:00] Fair and good.

Good question. You’re right. We’re affiliated with Siemens, USA and Siemens, USA, you know, really is a technology company at the heart of, I think, what we’re talking about today, right? In terms of green jobs, and it’s a very diverse company that has solutions. We do, you know, high speed, uh, electric locomotives for Amtrak.

We do light rail lines in cities across the us. We set up manufacturing lines. We build out, uh, the grids. We do, we have healthcare systems and imaging diagnostics. We, we greet up buildings out there, right? So a lot of overlap in terms of what we’re talking about. Um, but we’re a separate 5 0 1 C3, like any corporate foundation.

Um, and the IRS says, Hey, you know. That’s fine. If you want to lead in your sector, that’s good. You don’t get to drive anything precious in terms of marketing or, you know, a special look at hiring, et cetera. Um, and so we kinda know where that line is and our three giant steps back for us [00:08:00] in the foundation.

Um, our, our mission really focuses in three areas we drive, uh, workforce training. We drive health equity and we drive green job development. And those three silos are really porous because the common denominator is workforce training. So, you know, we believe in, in seeking this unfulfilled promise of America that if you work hard, uh, and you set your goals, you should be able to provide for yourself and your family and your community.

And we know that when it comes to a job, right, a sustainable living wage job, that that’s, that is necessary for, yes, the business community, but again, it’s more necessary for us as individuals, families and communities, and frankly our democracy to depends on our, including everybody in that word.

Eric: Well, let me follow up on that just a little bit, if you don’t mind, in that you would think that that would be intuitive.

It, there clearly are challenges. There are [00:09:00] things getting in the way of ensuring that workers can, can make a wage that allows them to realize the American dream, that they can care for their families, they can build for the future, they can gather, they can gain wealth, and, and yet there are clearly obstacles.

Can you just talk a little bit about where you see those obs obstacles occurring and how you think that philanthropy is, is positioned to address these questions?

David: Yeah, and I’ll, I’ll try to make sure I trim it because it’s one of my favorite subjects. Right. Oh, good. Okay. That’s how we, you know, our current, our biggest initiative right now, I’m sure we’ll get into it more later, but we’ve got a 10 year, $30 million commitment to the electric vehicle charging sector, right?

So, so a pretty narrow focus in a lot of different ways. But we got there because we looked at the data that said, Hey, all these investments are coming from the federal government. They’re being matched on the private government side. Huge opportunity for philanthropy here, right? Like we probably will never see in our [00:10:00] lifetimes again, in terms of making sure, um, that workers have a sustainable job, that it, that, that they’re trained, that they’re included.

And so, you know, to to back to your question, right? What are the barriers here? Well, what we know is that we’ve done a good job of including sort of the, the historical majority in this country of workers, but we haven’t done so well. In certain fields, you know, that we’re working in with women and marginalized communities, right?

And so why is that? There’s a variety of reasons for that. But as we did the research, looked at the demographics coming down the pike, number one, we said, we realized that there is no way forward for this economy, for our national security and for the climate absent being more successful with those very populations, women in marginalized communities.

So as I always say, and Rachel’s heard this before, even if you have a cold stone heart for equity. You better get on board if you care about business, national security and climate. You just have to do it. The demographics are [00:11:00] there. Part of it is many workers have never been invited in. Right to that.

Part of it is that as they’ve been invited in, there’s an assumption that if you’re a worker at a barista at Starbucks and you’re making minimum wage and you have nothing in your bank account, that somehow you can just easily make that transition. That’s where Rachel’s work comes in, right? Like helping folks understand it takes childcare, it takes transportation fees, it takes money to buy a pair of boots, which the three of us might not think about.

Right. We might take for granted. Um, but those are the types of things that really are getting focused on now in this new rollout.

Eric: So let, let me talk to turn to you, Rachel, ’cause the families and workers fund was started by Ford, as you said, and Schusterman and Schmid. JPB and others, I believe, to address this kind of gap that was perceived in philanthropy, which is that we don’t understand how to build an economy that [00:12:00] supports workers in the ways that David was just describing.

Now you’re a co-founder of the fund. What were those conversations like in the very beginning and what, where did you set your sights when you, when you launched this? Really interesting, uh, and incredibly valuable enterprise.

Rachel: Well, before I jump in, jump into that question, um, let me just tell a little story about David, which is how David and I met and then have been teaming up.

Uh, so we’re at this, which relates to what he was just saying. We’re at this, you know, fancy convening in Washington DC and room full of business leaders in Suits. And, um, David and I sort of knew each other, but not particularly well, and David gets up on the stage and says exactly what he just said. Says, you know, even if you’ve got a stone cold heart for equity, just the pure math of this in the business sense, you know, this is the path forward.

1. And I thought, okay, I’ve, I’ve gotta team up with this person just to, you know, hear him as a leader at Siemens saying that and saying [00:13:00] it so clearly and to look out in the room and see the nodding heads. It was a powerful moment. Um, and, and I think we see a bearing out and we see a bearing out in the work.

So, you know, to your question, Eric, for, for us, in those early days, there were kind of two realities, and I kind of have to bring you back into a time a lot of us don’t like to remember much, which is the early days of the pandemic. And there were two. Different situations, workers and their families were facing, and there they were kind of just extreme versions of what happens every day.

So on the one hand, you’ve got essential workers. On the other hand, you’ve got laid off workers. So for essential workers, in many cases, the folks who are making meals for hospitals, who are, you know, collecting our trash, who are basically making the country not collapse in, you know, a, an unprecedented global pandemic for so many of them, particularly folks who don’t have college degrees.

They were working around the clock often in dangerous conditions, but it didn’t [00:14:00] necessarily translate to that sustainable living wage David was speaking to. It didn’t translate to a chance at a better future on the other side of this. And then you flip to the other reality for laid off workers, you know, I had a number of family members in this category.

You’re very quickly going from employed and maybe just barely getting by or, or kind of making it work, eking it out. Two, having to navigate, um, the social safety net, US public assistance, and a system that should be there to ensure that there’s just some minimum standards of like health and economic security that we don’t fall below in this country.

But too often doesn’t work. I will say, you know, one of my family members. Was laid off. Um, and during that time, and it still took her six months to get her unemployment insurance check, you know? Wow. And, and that’s just unacceptable. And I work on these issues and, and it was, you know, dozens of snail mail letters and back and forth in a state that really wanted to do well by [00:15:00] its people.

So today that experience that we saw workers and families having during Covid is deeply reflected in our strategy. We focus on, you know, what does it take to help people get into these upwardly mobile, um, exciting jobs that can sustain them and their families. And there are a ton of them in electric vehicles.

As David was saying, in the future economy, we’re building around clean energy. Yet they’re often not accessible and they’re especially not accessible to, um, people who are in rural communities, women and people of color, folks without college degrees. So on the one hand, how do we get into these opportunities?

And then on the other, I. You know, how do we make this social safety net work better for people and, and really fulfill this guarantee of basic economic security for every person in the country?

Eric: Well, there’s this, this kind of gets at this other question, which is that there’s this understanding or like a, a perception that you can’t have both, [00:16:00] that you can’t build up.

You can’t provide a living, not just a living wage, but a good wage for workers and still have an economy that works. And there’s this parallel perception that you can’t have a functioning economy and still protect the environment or to, you know, that green jobs somehow come at some kind of cost to, to the economy and to our productivity or to our output and.

That’s a narrative that was, I believe, created to make it difficult to be able to do the kind of equity work that you are both interested in. Can you, can you talk just a little bit, maybe I’ll start with you, David, but we’ll, we’ll go to you, Rachel, right after that, about how the false narrative got created.

And then after the break we’re gonna talk about the, the actual narrative, the ones that, that we’re all working together to try and advance. But let’s just talk a little bit about this false. Uh, perception [00:17:00] that there’s this weird trade off between jobs and the environment, for example.

David: Yeah, no, I’d love to.

I mean, you know, I’m not, I don’t know that any of us knows exactly how that happened. I can say that those of us who have been concerned about the environment for decades probably could have communicated better. Right. About how, how it can work for everybody. Right? So, I, I mean, there’s a, there’s an understanding now as we look back.

That. Yes, absolutely. You know, we needed to clean up rivers that were on fire. We needed to clean up smoke stacks that were just churning out pollution and clouding our cities. Absolutely no doubt about that. And we needed to recognize that the effect, uh, on the economy and specifically on the individual.

And the individual worker, right? So if all people ever hear is, I’m against something, I want to shut something down. That’s not a good thing. That’s certainly one of the ways it has happened. And of course, you know, probably from the [00:18:00] other direction on that argument, there were forces in place that just said, boy, I.

I seem to be making a heck of a lot of money here. Right? I mean, you’re just economic incentives that cause people to say, yeah, it’s not gonna work. Right? So that’s, that’s kind of, you know, from my cheap seats on, on the question, that’s how I tend to view that question. I think the beauty of it these days is that the data is coming out really rapidly even as we speak this week, right?

The IMFs most recent report. Coming out says, Hey, lo and behold, these investments the US have made over the last two years are leading the global economy. Right now we are. We are driving the global economy. We are outpacing, you know, the seven big economies of the world. We have somehow leapfrog, I think, much to the shock and chagrin to be honest with you, of many of those countries that were at least a decade ahead of us on a lot of the things that we’re putting in place.

They’re scratching [00:19:00] their heads and saying, what just happened here? Um, and so, um, you know, I think that the results are coming in. We still are not doing the job we need to in communicating what is happening for the individual worker in terms of wages, in terms of who’s being included in this economy, um, and what’s happening.

But I think that will come.

Eric: Rachel, can you talk a little bit about this, the, the false narrative that we’re all laboring against? How. What your perspective is on how it, how it got there and what to do about it.

Rachel: Yeah. And you know, this is a narrative we’ve all been having. It’s not true. It’s not the environment or the economy, it’s not, you know, climate action or jobs.

I think we get into these, you know, false dichotomies and, and ways of thinking a lot, um, with social change work. And the way to think about it is this, like, it doesn’t matter the issue. All social change requires building and fighting. So we’ve [00:20:00] gotta tear down those systems of injustice and we’ve also gotta build up systems of justice.

And I think sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot when we only talk about what we’re gonna fight and what we’re gonna stop and not also what we’re going to build and how it’s gonna make lives better in concrete ways. So that narrative has been plaguing us when it comes to climate action for a long time.

And, um, I think what’s important and what we’re really doing now and what we see taking hold over the last few years is we are also talking about the better world that we can build. And people are seeing, they’re beginning to actually see what it looks like with cars on the road. With, you know, healthier air quality in some cases, um, with jobs that are actually being created in these industries.

So it’s, it’s not just about stopping and tearing something down, which as David said is part of it too. You know, social change will always require both, but it is about building this better future. [00:21:00] Um, and I will say what excites me and, and feels so relevant for our work at Families and Workers Fund. Is, you know, today, this is not, these aren’t just words.

We’re not just trying to put out a better narrative. This is real like climate action and the road to decarbonizing. The US economy runs straight through the US workforce. Like we do not get to, um, net zero without. Making all of these huge, big investments in the US economy that can create opportunities and jobs for millions of people.

And, and to be really specific, you know, the Biden administration has made once in a generation investment, trillions into the next generation of infrastructure of clean energy, clean manufacturing and tech. And you know, the pieces of legislation like the Installation Reduction Act, bipartisan infrastructure law.

Studies show that these will probably create 10 million new jobs over the next decade. I mean, that’s huge and, and many of these jobs are [00:22:00] good family sustaining jobs or can become them. So it’s really up to us to make sure that these jobs, fuel economic mobility, that every person and their family who enters this workforce.

Has a good experience and actually becomes a champion of our future economy and, and of a more climate resilient society.

Eric: We’re gonna talk about that in a lot more right after the break, but, you know, you just remind me that the clean, the clean economy is coming no matter who just won this election, it’s coming.

And the, the trick is, how do we manage that best? So we’re gonna take a very, very quick break. I’ll be back with Rachel Berg and David et Weiler right after this. You are listening to, let’s Hear It, a podcast about foundation and nonprofit communications hosted by Eric Brown and Kirk Brown. If you’re enjoying this episode, you may just be a rule breaker.

Tune into Break Fake Rules, a new limited series podcast with Glen Gallic, CEO of the [00:23:00] Stubs Ski Foundation. Hear from leaders in philanthropy, nonprofits, government media, and more to learn about challenges they’ve overcome by breaking fake rules and which rules we should commit to breaking together. We are also sponsored by the Conrad Previs Foundation.

Check out their amazingly good podcast, and we’re not just saying that. Stop and talk. Hosted by Previs Foundation, CEO. Grant Ola. You can find them at stop and talk podcast.com. And now back to the show. Welcome back to, let’s Hear It. My guests are Rachel Berg, the executive director and co-founder of the Family and Families and Workers Fund, and David Sweer, the CEO of the Siemens Foundation.

And this is such an interesting conversation, so we’ll, uh, right before the break we were talking about all this federal investment that’s going into a clean economy, however defined. And, and part of the work that you’re doing is to ensure that, that that investment goes to workers, that it, that it builds this incredible base.

Of, of engagement. Of [00:24:00] access of equity and that it, you know, generates the kind of jobs and the kind of lives that we all desert. So one of these things that I, I know that you’re working on is this thing called the powering climate and Infrastructure Careers Challenge, which is hard to say, but I’m sure it’s gonna be worth talking about.

Can you just, um, Rachel, give us a sense of what this is and how this is going?

Rachel: Yeah. No one ever said philanthropy is the best in naming things. So we need your help for that, Eric. They, yes. Right. Call the college people first. That’s what, that’s, that’s my recommendation. Let’s do that. Um, I think the best way to answer your question is through a story.

So, you know, power, the Powering Climate and Infrastructure Careers Challenge was a big open call for grants to say, how are you? Creating opportunities for people to access great careers, um, in the, the new economy. And let me tell you, um, a brief story that I think illuminates what’s possible here. So this is about, um, a young man, a real [00:25:00] person who we got to know.

His name’s Cleo. He lives in Philly. And a few years ago, he would’ve told you, I do a bunch of odd jobs in grunt work and construction. And that was a for now thing while he was figuring out the forever job. And then he heard about one of our grantees and he, he heard about Power Core PHL and this great training and leadership development program.

That will help train you and prepare you for a job in the clean energy industries or in climate resilience. And, you know, the model involves earning money on day one, uh, getting right into on the job training. And also this is very important, getting something that, you know, the wonky term would be wraparound supportive services, but.

It means things like, you know, recognizing you’re a human and we all have things that come up in our lives that can get in the way, like needing better transportation or childcare or mental health services. So this program helps provide on the spot, um, supportive services like [00:26:00] this. And it really specializes in people that have a background in the criminal court system and come from low income households.

It’s, it’s a primarily bipoc young people. Um, learners in the program. So Cleo enters, he spends six months in it. By the end, he’s got his driver’s license, he’s got OSHA certifications, he’s got months of on the job experience. Um, today he is working for a local company that is a solar, um. Panel warehouse.

He’s moved from being entry level to a mid-level manager, which is a huge need and and gap in the labor market right now. He’s got his own team and he feels like he’s part of this climate revolution. So for me it’s, that’s the story we want. And for a funder, you know, for every dollar we’re putting into Power Core, they’re able to tap into 40 of employer and, um, government money.

Like of the kinds we were talking about before the break, like from the bipartisan infrastructure law. So we wanna see programs like this scale up, and for me, [00:27:00] like this is how climate action runs straight through the US workforce and our equity goals.

Eric: Well, David, this is, it sounds to me like this is good for business as well as your workers are better trained, are more engaged, have a stake in the success of everything that you do.

Uh, but that’s just me thinking you’re the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Can you talk directly to how industry is benefiting from. Uh, this kind of worker, I don’t know if you wanna call it worker revolution, but a new way of thinking maybe about how do you integrate an economy.

David: Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, I think, I think what you have in play in corporate foundations, I think corporate foundations that are showing up and really trying to do this in a thoughtful, meaningful way is this combination of, like, I look at our board of directors, our US leadership team, people just genuinely care.

Believe that we all do better when we all do better. And that’s not, you know, [00:28:00] I can imagine some people rolling their eyes at that from a, you know, somebody who’s in corporate America. On the other hand, uh, I think we all believe in that at some level, right? Like, if we can get this aligned correctly and understand, as Rachel’s talking about was, we’ve been talking about we have to engage everybody in this economy.

We want to do that for the benefit of the country, for the benefit of democracy. I mean, we’ve got some, some pressures in case we haven’t noticed, right? That are coming from inequities. So we’ve gotta do better. And yes, there is this enlightened self-interest in corporate foundations. Again, not coming back to our doorstep because we can’t do that, but is there an understanding that American workers.

Help us move forward as a country, as a business sector, et cetera. Absolutely. And we ought to use our expertise and our leadership in the sectors in which we lead to help drive change. And that’s, you know, and that’s what we’re doing. And we’re doing that just by the way, we’re not only doing that with sort of government players, [00:29:00] nonprofit players, but we’re working with folks like the IBEW, right?

We’re saying, Hey, all of us need to be coming to the table together. All hands on deck. This is the, the pressure point really for the rest of our lifetimes. You look forward on the demographics for the next 40 years. This is not a cycle. This is gonna happen for the next 40 years or more. We don’t have the people that it takes, um, in place.

And certainly, uh, skilling people up is a huge part of the equation. So it’s a combination I think of, of just doing the right thing, um, and enlightened self-interest.

Eric: So Rachel, what is it like to have a corporate philanthropy participating with you and the families and workers fund? How, what kind of conversations are, well, let me put it this way.

Do you get, do you have different kinds of conversations than you would with, say, your colleagues at the Ford Foundation or JPB or some one of those other foundations that think looks at the world in maybe a slightly different way? [00:30:00]

Rachel: Yeah, you know, the strength of the families and workers fund and what we’re trying to build is a big tent, um, because we need a big tent to win on economic mobility.

And too often in philanthropy, you know, I’ll just say it, we’re siloed. We get stuck in our own areas of work and small differences in our strategies and programs, and we can do so much more if we can pull resources and show up together. So I say to our funders from day one. Not every grant you see in here is gonna feel like it’s right in the bullseye of your strategy.

You’re not going to have, you know, the exact same strategy as, as every funder who you’re around the board table with. And we’re gonna be able to get some really huge things done. And we have actually, the, the fund together has been able to leverage, um, over $12 billion in outside funding by making really strategic grants that, um, help to tap into public and private sector capital.

So. You know, that’s the [00:31:00] trade off of the collective impact approach is that you do have to, uh, know that it, it’s, there’s gonna be some things you do that go a little outside of your strategy. And, um, the opportunity is that you got to work in this big tent and have an opportunity for impact at a much bigger scale.

So we love it. I, I very deeply believe in this kind of collective approach.

Eric: That’s so funny. I have this question written down right there about that. You just answered it, but I, I, it gives me the opportunity to rant slightly, uh, on your collective behalf, which is that funders have a tendency to. To fund their strategy.

And so if their strategy is workers, but it’s not climate, like I can’t find that climate thing because it’s not climate, you know, it’s not, I don’t have a program for that. And this notion that by pooling your kind of interests, you find all the ways that these things can converge is so powerful. And so just a, I don’t know what, I wanna put a what, whatever it is.

A little special star on what you just said [00:32:00] because we have to be a li we have to be much more expansive. About how we think about, uh, providing opportunity, addressing challenges, call it what you will. So we all get to the place, we all where we all wanna go. So I, I just want to commend you for that. I think that these types of funder collaboratives can be so powerful because you have conversations among people that would other, otherwise you probably wouldn’t have.

And I just, I think that Eric, can I jump in? Yeah, go ahead David.

David: Yeah, really let me just, if you don’t, if you don’t mind, I love that I just jump in just to kind of affirm and pick up on what you’re talking about. ’cause Rachel and I have talked about a similar theme and, and a number of colleagues are, there are a lot of folks from various sectors, um, you know, whether it’s philanthropy, community foundations, private foundations, business, et cetera, that are in that get it right, they get the common denominator.

Of equity and workforce, for example, in all of this, I’d also say I, a lot of us are [00:33:00] surprised at the number of institutions who have not yet really jumped in. I mean, this is in some ways the biggest subsidy for equity and the environment that philanthropy has had in our lifetimes and probably ever will, right?

Like this is a huge, if you’re working on the environment, if you’re working on equity. This is a huge head start and, and, and, and not to realize that, hey, these are great ideas we have. There’s no way we implement them unless we get workers engaged and supported, trained and sustained in this, uh, in this economy.

And it is a little. It’ll, it was a little startling at times to, to kinda look around and think, boy, there are a lot of folks that are still not diving in or not getting in with both feet, so appreciate the, the call out of yours. Well, yeah, I,

Rachel: yeah,

Eric: go ahead Rachel. [00:34:00]

Rachel: No, I was just gonna say I think that that is, I think that’s so right on.

We’ve gotta be making grants and funding in ways that are in conversation with these major public investments. Um, if you zoom out, government is the largest system of social change in the us So if you’re in the business of social, environmental, economic change, as we are in philanthropy, the way we work has gotta be in conversation with that system.

So that doesn’t mean, that means working in ways where we try to help grantees and organizations make the most of this funding where we think about how this is gonna impact workers and families on the ground. It is a little bit of a different mindset and a different way of doing philanthropy. And I will say that’s part of where the collective impact approach comes in, because it’s a lot harder to do foundation by foundation when you’re talking about.

Partnerships and funding and complimentary ways to public funding streams. But it’s a really [00:35:00] great thing to do together. And I’ll say, you know, having someone like David around the table who can speak to market dynamics and how things are playing out and, you know, then we’ve got another funder that can talk to what’s going on in the world of environmental justice.

Um, it’s just huge what we can do when we pull those different insights and vantage points.

Eric: Well, I couldn’t have wrapped this up any better. Uh, this is such a great conversation. I am so. Um, thrilled that you’re working together and that you’re doing this work, and I am really optimistic about the future no matter what just happened.

I tell you, I, maybe that’s a failing of mine, but, uh, I do think that this, this better world is inevitable. It’s coming. And the fact that you are funding it, you’re thinking about it and you’re coming up with really good new ideas, uh, fills me with a lot of hope. I thank you so much, Rachel. Rachel Berg, executive Director co-founder of the Families and Workers Fund, and David Sweer, CEO of the Siemens Foundation.

Thanks so much to you both.

David: [00:36:00] Thanks. Thanks.

Eric: Yeah, this was great.

Kirk: And we’re back. Hi

Eric: Kirk, how you been?

Kirk: The, I’m gonna lose my mind. The timing on this is incredible. The families and workers fun. Tell me about the timing, economic security doing better by everybody. Me. Is there no question, is there no question that this is the central, this is the heart of what’s going on with this election that’s unfolding in front of us, whether or not we’re gonna have.

This new path, these new opportunities, these new, an economy that works for everybody and provides economic security that’s at the heart of all of this. And whether or not, whether or not we’re gonna move forward with this, the incredible investments that have happened over the last four years, it all hangs in balance as this election unfolds.

Am I, is that wrong? No. And by the way, thank you. Did you, did you take your Lipitor? No. Who needs it? This? Listen, listen. [00:37:00] This, this, this idea was timely during Covid. And here’s, here’s Rachel talking about, we got a group of folks together. We had to address the, the incredible things that were happening, working families as covid hit.

And then I met a conference and I listened to David talk about. How this is working from a corporate foundation standpoint. And Rachel says, we’ve gotta work together and Rachel assembles this $125 million fund to invest in the kind of partnerships that are gonna actually deliver the kind of public benefits flowing through to communities that we need to see as this new economy unfolds.

This is the most. Central work that anybody could be working on. I honestly, Eric, I think this is one of the most important conversations you’ve had on this podcast. Really. And I’m not kidding about that. And we’ve had a lot. We’ve had a lot of ’em. This is amazing. This is amazing stuff.

Eric: Well, okay, well, you know what?

Let’s flip the script. Kirk,

Kirk: do I get to drive? I can. So first of all, let’s talk about how obviously [00:38:00] important it is that a corporate foundation like the Siemens Foundation. Should in should drive its philanthropic dollars into creating the change on the ground that provides the enabling conditions for all of the business strategies that they have rightly identified will drive their corporate interest for the next decade.

Wait a minute, Kirk, are you telling me

Eric: that actually doing the right thing is good for business? Oh my God. Oh my God.

Kirk: Are you talking about a 10 year, $30 million investment in electric, in electric vehicle charging infrastructure. And then what does David say? How do we have to address these issues? We’ve gotta involve women in marginalized communities.

Why? Because there’s no way forward without doing better with these communities. And, and, and what does David say? This is just, this is so eye popping. This should, these should be the headlines that are greeting us every day. We haven’t. Even invited workers in to this transition yet we haven’t even invited workers, workers in.

[00:39:00] So what happens, Rachel comes forward with the, with the, and I love this, I love this name for philanthropy, the Families and Workers Fund. Rachel comes forward and says, look, we have a strategy for how we invite people in. It’s not just what we’re gonna fight, but it’s also what we’re gonna build. And it’s the different dimensions of how we’re gonna support working families as we move through this, through this new economy.

It’s, this is everything. This is taking the promise of this change we need to make in the economy and delivering it where it’s needed most to the workers, in the families, in the communities that are most at risk is all of this craziness isn’t unfolding around us. This is it. This is the best stuff. It, it, it, it wraps up everything we’ve been talking about on this podcast for this for the last six years.

But Kirk, people might ask,

Eric: who cares about families and workers? Why do they matter?

Kirk: How dare you? How dare you? I love this. Well, so let me, let me test you on something you said Uhoh, because that was a little, I wanna, I wanna challenge. That was hours ago. I wanna challenge your sunny optimism. Uh oh. What’d I [00:40:00] say?

Okay. So you’re right. The clean economy is coming. You say on the podcast that it’s coming regardless of who won the election. Now I think that’s true, and I think that Rachel and David are on the right side of history here and they’re being wise and thoughtful in terms of how they’re trying to assemble philanthropic support to drive resources into things like workforce training programs.

But this notion that it’s coming regardless of who won, it’s not just about that. There’s a time element here too, right? If we really take our science on climate change seriously, which I think you and I do, we know there’s a clock ticking in the background. We’ve gotta make change fast, we’ve gotta reorder, we’ve gotta rejigger, we’ve gotta reinvest, we’ve gotta, we’ve gotta change this incredible enterprise, all of it, and get it off the carbon cycle and into better clean resources to support what we’re trying to do.

This election will determine whether or not we’re gonna get four. [00:41:00] 8, 12, 16 years of progress, or if we’re gonna start running the clock back in the United States and don’t you think? Yes. I think 50 years from now, 75 years from now, we’re gonna look up and see this new economy because it’s in fact a strategic imperative for all of our global economic.

Competitors, but whether or not we’re gonna make progress over the next 10 years hangs in the balance with this election, don’t you think so? Well, sure.

Eric: And my guess is that many of the listeners to our, so right, this is not a a, uh, get out the Vote podcast. To be, to be sure. It should be, it should be. So it’s kind of like we’re not talking, this is not quite our audience, but yeah.

Was was, is, was this election incredibly important? Um, yes, but the other question is, and I, [00:42:00] as I, I kind of mentioned this, maybe I said it in a ho optimistic way, which is that the, this economy is coming no matter who just won the election. And the, and then the question is, will the benefits accrue? To everybody, including folks you know, in our part of the hemisphere, or will it accrue to some folks?

And that is, are there economies, governments elsewhere who will take advantage of that and like, look, I don’t see the world in terms of us versus them. I just don’t, but we also have to understand that the, the lives of the people in the United States are gonna suffer. If things didn’t go the way we had hoped, and I don’t know what to say about that other than the fact that the good news is that a clean economy is coming, let’s just hope that everyone gets to benefit from it.

Kirk: Well, and you know why that’s gonna happen is because people like David get it. And, and the way that David [00:43:00] talks about, and, and this is where I’m gonna lose my mind, this should be again, the headlines that all of us are confronting. This is the story that we should all be confronting on our, on our local pages, on our social.

Channels everywhere you can look, we should be seeing this story already today. There are not enough workers to fill the jobs that are being created today by this economy. So we have this dual threat, not enough workers on the one hand, and then companies that are thriving and succeeding saying there’s single greatest constraint to growth, is getting the right kind of workers.

From the workforce, and we have this whole monopoly, this, this whole universe of folks out there saying, what’s in it for me? What’s my stake? Where, where am I at the table as this transition to moves forward? And here’s Rachel saying, actually, right here, right here. Let’s look at the strategies we can deploy from the families and workers fund.

And we’re gonna deliver this benefit all the way down to you and it right at your, at your household. [00:44:00] Meeting place your, your household dining room table. This is the central work. And you know, and I gotta say, Eric, you’ve talked a lot about, um, the need to collaborate in partnership. Well think about the kind of partnerships that Rachel’s pulling together.

And I love the exchange that you had about. Um, kind of philanthropic strategy and what fits and what doesn’t and kinda what what makes, makes the logic model and the theory of change. And here’s Rachel saying, Hey everybody, we need to pull our resources and come up with some innovative strategies. And guess what?

It’s not gonna look like your logic model. It’s not gonna look like your theory of change, because we’re actually gonna find it and deliver wins in the field wherever we can. And it, this is the work, this is the work that’s needed.

Eric: Yeah. Well, here’s an interesting thing because. One of my frustrations is that our politics hasn’t figured out the value of delivering good jobs and to, to, for lack of a better descrip word, like middle class people.

[00:45:00] And this is what this work is designed to do, and it feels to me quite obvious. And for one reason or another.

Eric (2): We

Eric: ha we, they, somebody has not been able to tell this story in an effective way to help people understand that this is the future, this is where the good jobs are gonna come from. This is how you build wealth.

This is how you build a base. This is how you create a politics in which folks who need it the most win. And I, I, I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t think that. The current administration has managed to communicate that in a way that seems to have landed, and that’s why this election seems to be as close as it is.

It, it ought to be a no-brainer, and it isn’t, and I don’t know the answer to that. I, I feel bad about pointing fingers about that, but this has to be where the future is and it has to be really obvious and it’s not. [00:46:00] That’s a little frustrating.

Kirk: Well, let’s, let’s assume and trust and pray that we will continue having elections in America.

We get to keep having elections. Ooh, let’s that, let’s take that as, as something, I think it’s a challenge to the entire philanthropic social change, progressive sector to address what you just talked about Now. Over the next four years. So that four years from now, this becomes the central story that we’re all talking about.

Because, you know, look at Power Course, PHL, the, um, the, the workforce training, wraparound services entity that, um, that Rachel’s been funding the kinds of stores, the kind of transformative stores that are coming out of, um, work like that, investments like that. The fact that for every dollar that Power Core puts into.

Um, it’s projects, $40 of private sector support come in. Why? Because it so obviously makes sense for the private sector department programs like this. These are the kind of stories that can literally be told in every [00:47:00] community, in every main street around the country that this transformation is happening and it gives everybody a stake.

And so, you know, one of the cre. Critiques I would make of our whole movement is that we get a little bit traditional how we think about this. We think, well, man, this big transition is happening. Where’s the, uh, letter to the editor? Where’s the op-Ed? Where, where can I, where can I float these stories in kind of a very traditional way?

This has gotta be, you know what the answer is here, Eric? We need a, you’re gonna laugh at me. We need a podcast in every small town in America telling stories like this, pulling forward the actual people that are participating in this, in these transitions, and so. The pitch I would make is that this is one of those cases where, and, and, and David nailed it, you know, you talked about this, this false narrative and, and why did it have, so why does it continue to have so much salience?

And David says, well, you know, maybe we’re not communicating it well enough. Maybe we really need to be thinking about some of these programs and dollar for dollar if we’re putting. X amount of dollars into this broader notion around workforce [00:48:00] training and the kind of pipeline initiatives that are bringing these benefits to communities.

Let’s dollar for dollar match that with the storytelling it’s gonna take for those stories to cut through and stick and let people see that they have a place at this table. To me, I think that’s one of the sort of sub the, the subtext of this entire conversation and which is why I’m gonna lose my mind because this should be front and center for today’s election.

Absolutely. Well, you know, there’s been some efforts to kind of get this story out there, but this is the task for our entire movement, I think, moving forward to make this front and center for all of us as we move forward. I mean, what do you think about that? Do you buy that? Well,

Eric: this is not, as I, I say this a million times, nominally a podcast about communications and I have said almost as many times that it is never your audience’s fault if they go uncommunicated with, yeah, yeah.

It is your fault. It is your responsibility to ensure that the good news lands where it needs to land. [00:49:00] And I do think that this is, I, I won’t say that this is entirely a communications problem, but it is certainly a communications opportunity, which is you really need to let folks understand the value of this new, better, greener, safer, healthier economy, and the jobs that it creates, the livelihoods that it builds.

The wealth that it builds all of that stuff. And for one reason or another it’s not. And that’s, you know, that’s just our, the, the, the nature of our challenge, let’s call it now. And, and I wanna just talk a little bit about these funder collaboratives because Yeah. You know, we, we did, you know, Rachel did talk about bringing together a bunch of funders who will fund something that goes beyond their very, or their, or their.

Relatively narrow internal funding, whatever guidelines. And the value of that [00:50:00] is obvious, and it requires that you give up a bit of control, but you understand that what you get back is a lot more than you put in. And I would just encourage funders out there everywhere to find those types of funding partnerships that allow you to see around the corner.

Force you to think a little bit differently and that encourage you to learn from each other stuff that you hadn’t thought of that goes beyond your relatively strict funding guidelines, because the benefits are so fabulous and so important and so powerful that I, I do think that, that those are risks worth taking if you think about these things in terms of risk.

Kirk: And what does it take for collaboratives like this to work? What does it take for that notion around storytelling that can connect to actually be advanced and move forward? It takes people that get it and Rachel gets [00:51:00] it. Rachel is so clear. And guess what? David gets it and, and I love that story of Rachel and David meeting at a conference finding each other.

And, and by the way, kudos to both Rachel and David for the other piece of this, which is kind of quiet in the background, but there’s a real risk here. You’ve got the Siemens Corporate Foundation partnering with, you know, this whole philanthropic enterprise and trying to figure out, you know, how we align on strategies and interventions.

And yet they’re so clearly doing it, they’re so clearly able to talk about what really matters in the work that really should be advanced. So this piece about people. Getting it and really feeling it. And, um, man, I gotta say it’s so exciting. And Rachel and, and David, I just hope that this is the beginning of as, as significant as the enterprise is to date, $125 million fund is nothing to, um, sneeze at.

Right? Like that’s, that’s, that’s a very respectable set of resources, man. Wouldn’t be great to see that scale. And, and I love too, the way where [00:52:00] Rachel talked about, you know, we’re delivering these dollars in conversation with. Our public sector partners who are investing many times over the resources that we can invest, but we can, again, play that game of providing some guiding lights, some clear pathways, some opportunities to make those public dollars go even further.

It’s just, it’s, it’s such incredible timing and important work. Well, Kirk, I hope you have your defibrillator handy.

Eric: Just in case,

Kirk: let’s, let’s, uh, let’s, let’s send good thoughts for all of us in the coming days. Let’s send a mighty word of thanks to the Families and Workers Fund and all the folks that are making that initiative happen.

And people like Rachel who is working tirelessly and folks like David who are coming forward and saying, Hey, we’re gonna be partners in this and we’re gonna. Take the risks and be thoughtful and, and, and make [00:53:00] good things happen for real families all across our country. It’s just such timely, important, and exciting work.

And yes, I will take the red pill and the blue pill tonight. I’ll try to find myself

Eric: asleep. Well take in the right order, whatever you do. But yes, this is a great model. It’s a great model, not just for this type of work, but for a lot of different things in philanthropy and this understanding about creating a narrative.

Of inevitability and that helps people understand that this is, you know, these are powerful ways to think about winning elections. It’s about winning the ways we think about what the future looks like. That’s so important, and I’m very excited for this work. And woo, let’s just hope, let’s, let’s just hope that, you know, the, the good times get to roll.

Kirk: Well, thank you so much to Rachel Berg, executive Director of the Families and Workers Fund, David Sweer, CEO of the Siemens Foundation. Thank you so much for the [00:54:00] work you’re doing and also for joining us here and let’s hear it. And um, Eric, well done and timely at that.

Eric: Oh, thank you, Kirky. You’re very kind.

Kirk: We’ll see you I’ll next time and let’s hear it. Okay, everybody. That’s it for this episode. Please let us know if you have any thoughts about what you heard today or people we should have on this show, and that definitely includes yourself. And we’d like to thank

Eric (2): our indefatigable producer, Harper Brown,

Kirk: John Ali, the tuneful and inspiring composer of our theme music, our

Eric (2): sponsor.

Kirk: The Lumina Foundation, and please check out Lumina’s terrific podcast, today’s students tomorrow’s talent, and you can find that@luminafoundation.org.

Eric: We certainly thank today’s guest, and of course, all of you,

Kirk: and most importantly, thank you, Mr. Brown.

Eric: Oh, no, no, no, no. Thank you, Mr.

Kirk: Brown. Okay, everybody, till next [00:55:00] time.