Impact of our work

RI Workforce Alliance managed by The Economic Progress Institute wins National award

The Economic Progress Institute works to improve the economic security of all Rhode Islanders and to ensure that the state has the adequate resources to provide the public services we all rely on.  Below are some examples of the impact of our work.

• Ensure the state has a skilled and productive workforce by co-founding and facilitating the RI Workforce Alliance, a partnership among business, labor, workforce training providers, philanthropic organizations and upward mobility advocates.  The Alliance has successfully advocated for policies that strengthen the state's workforce development system and promoted increased investments for workforce training.
• Protected the state’s poorest children by ensuring that their families can continue to receive RI Works cash assistance benefits when parents cannot find a job.  We also succeeded in reforming the welfare law to allow parents to participate in work-related training so they have a better chance of becoming employed.
• Improved the ability of policymakers and taxpayers to evaluate  "economic development" tax credits and incentives by implementing new reporting requirements.
• Helped to enact legislation to close several corporate tax loopholes and convinced lawmakers to more closely scrutinize how much revenue the state is losing to other tax breaks.
• Kept RIte Care health insurance affordable for thousands of families by preventing a sharp increase in monthly premiums.
• Served as a watchdog and expert voice on Rhode Island's controversial Medicaid Global Waiver.

We have successfully raised awareness about the economic challenges facing the state and its residents by:

• Commenting in over 225 media stories at the local, regional, and national level since 2008, and producing and hosting more than twenty cable access programs on topics related to our mission.
• Training over one thousand social service providers about the government-sponsored work support programs that help lower wage working families make ends meet and about the safety-net programs that help Rhode Islanders in crisis.
• Creating the web-based Guide to Assistance Programs, a vital tool to help Rhode Islanders understand the assistance available to them in the areas of income supports, food assistance, health care, child care and more.
• Publishing numerous full-length reports, issue briefs, fact sheets, op-eds, and other documents that we disseminate to policymakers, community leaders, and other interested parties.
• Testifying on a host of bills in order to educate policymakers about the impact of proposed legislation on the fiscal health of the state and its residents.
• Hosting our annual budget conference and encore presentations which have  been attended  by hundreds of policymakers, community leaders and members of the public who are interested in state fiscal and policy issues.

With your support, we are putting more Rhode Islanders on a path to economic progress. Make a gift today.