In light of UMA’s recently launched report, Manufacturing’s Emerging Partners,UMA brought together faith leaders, manufacturers, and workforce practitioners to explore how partnerships can open new avenues toward inclusive workforce development and entrepreneurship. Nicole Lau, Founder of Urban Made Project and UMA Board Director, spearheaded the report by drawing insights from partnerships across six cities. In this webinar, we heard stories from manufacturing practitioners based in Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati about how manufacturing businesses can become deeply embedded in communities, with the right partners. 

Building bridges between faith organizations and manufacturers creates opportunities for living-wage incomes and inclusive workplaces with often marginalized communities. These relationships can spark creative solutions for workforce development by sharing resources and forging connections between community members and manufacturing businesses. Faith leaders are also helping communities courageously envision pathways toward racial and economic justice through manufacturing by advocating for policy change and advancing acquisition strategies that promote ownership among people of color.

This conversation brought together David Robinson of Manufacturing Renaissance in Chicago, Illinois; Dan Meyer of Nehemiah Manufacturing in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Brianna Schultz of Manufacturing Works in Cleveland, Ohio. Elmer Moore of Scale Up Milwaukee moderated the discussion.

Takeaways

Partnerships between faith-informed organizations and manufacturers highlight the interconnectedness of work and community, inspiring holistic solutions for workforce and community development. Sharing stories from Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, the three speakers elevated how manufacturing businesses are rooted in the ecosystem of communities. Manufacturing businesses are workplaces that create living-wage incomes, act as centers of learning and advancement for students, and are important drivers of the local economy that stimulate other small businesses. However, over the course of the mid- to late-twentieth century, deindustrialization struck communities, with Black and brown residents experiencing disproportionate job losses. In Chicago, David Robinson noted that the city lost more than 250,000 jobs, creating a “domino effect” of disinvestment, distrust, and deepening structural disadvantage across all domains of life, particularly for communities of color. 

Recognizing that context, the speakers discussed how they utilized strategies for inclusive manufacturing to cultivate community wealth and wellness. For example, Dan Meyer explained how Nehemiah Manufacturing, a faith-informed and mission-driven manufacturer, reached an “aha” moment when realizing that providing a job for workers, particularly for formerly incarcerated and other marginalized workers, “just wasn’t enough.” This prompted Nehemiah to develop comprehensive wraparound services that integrated affordable housing, transportation, education, and legal services, among others. Meyer’s understanding of his employees as people, not simply as workers, positions Nehemiah to develop programs that meet their multifaceted needs and dreams for personal growth. 

Similarly, David Robinson’s work with the Ministers for Manufacturing Committee at Manufacturing Renaissance also advances a holistic understanding of work and community. Ministers for Manufacturing is grounded in “the prophetic tradition of the Black church … for social justice [and] social equity.” For the team of ministers, supporting manufacturing can create a “ripple effect” in communities by connecting unemployed residents to innovative careers that pay living incomes and build community wealth. 

Additionally, faith-informed organizations can serve as transformative intermediaries between manufacturers and community members. The panelists discussed how faith leaders can help cultivate a skilled manufacturing workforce by conducting outreach to community members. Robinson referenced unfilled positions at manufacturing firms that pay between $65,000 to $80,000 per year with benefits. Despite this “low hanging fruit,” Robinson lamented that “nobody’s in those jobs because the training apparatus isn’t available.” Ministers can help spread the “manufacturing gospel” by educating community members about these job opportunities and providing a trusted introduction to the sector through relevant training programs. Robinson explained that clergy play a leading role in conducting outreach to community members because company owners and managers are often disconnected from the communities where their firms are located due to patterns of racial and economic segregation in midwestern cities such as Chicago. 

 In addition to helping build a pipeline of skilled workers, clergy also play a role in pushing company culture and strategies to transform manufacturing ownership. Brianna Schultz of Manufacturing Works, a workforce development intermediary, relayed a story about a hiring event where her workforce intermediary partnered with faith organizations to encourage more job candidates from communities of color. However, a firm looking to hire for a number of entry level jobs did not hire Black and brown candidates, even though they were in desperate need of workers. Faith leaders and the intermediary pushed back against the predominantly white firm managers and prompted a conversation about instituting measures for transparency and accountability in hiring decisions. In addition, Robinson elevated how Ministers for Manufacturing is supporting acquisition strategies to promote Black and brown ownership as older, white owners near retirement. Faith leaders oriented toward inclusive manufacturing are not only interested in connecting community members to employment opportunities, but are also driven to transform the organization of work and ownership in manufacturing to promote racial and economic justice. 

Faith-informed organizations are also sites of community mobilization. Faith leaders have helped organize community members to advocate for legislation that can enable inclusive manufacturing development in their communities. For Ministers for Manufacturing, legislative advocacy is the “third leg” of support alongside mentoring and connecting community members to training and job opportunities. The Committee plays a prominent role in organizing community members to support legislative advocacy. This spring, the coalition drafted legislation to establish a national Manufacturing Renaissance Corporation, which would create a framework and funding stream for equitable manufacturing revival initiatives in cities. 

Relationships between faith-informed organizations and manufacturers are symbiotic as resource-sharing facilitates equitable community wealth-building. Building connections between faith-informed organizations and manufacturers are fruitful for households, communities, workers, and businesses. As a spiritual home or social service provider, faith organizations can become entry points for manufacturers to connect with and more effectively meet the needs of their potential workforce. In Cleveland, Schultz described how Manufacturing Works partnered with the Cleveland Clergy Coalition to connect people of color and women with manufacturing jobs. Schultz initially met the faith leaders through the Coalition’s initiative to provide mentoring to parishioners navigating challenges to retain employment. Notably, most parishioners lived on the east side of Cleveland, a stark two-hour long commute via public transit for workers without access to a car. Together, Schultz and clergy members worked to eliminate these transportation barriers by developing a ride-share program. Their program, Get2WorkNow, put church vans to use during the weekdays to connect the east side Cleveland residents to manufacturing jobs.

In Cincinnati, Nehemiah Manufacturing’s wraparound services draw on the resources of more than 20 non-profit organizations to connect workers to affordable housing, transportation, and other services, many of which are faith-based. Meyer attests that the relationship is “a two-way street:” Nehemiah is a champion of these organizations and Meyer celebrates that Nehemiah has become one of their funders. 

Building relationships and sharing resources has also generated growth in unexpected ways. In another story, Robinson shared how “our ministers… themselves have dipped their toe into the manufacturing ownership process.” Developing a robotics training program with local education partners inspired the ministers to create their own small businesses with new relationships and resources at hand. Soon, several ministers and community members established a new plastic molding business. Their partnership with manufacturers has evolved as ministers and community members have become manufacturing business owners: “they sit at the table … with other manufacturers.”

Partnerships between faith-informed organizations and manufacturers can mobilize communities and resources for inclusive manufacturing and community development.

Learn more by reading the full report: Manufacturing’s Emerging Partnerships: Faith-Informed Organizations Supporting Employment and Entrepreneurship.