Press Releases
Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, Miami Workers Center and Catalyst Miami will work together to empower domestic workers and build worker-led business models
February 09, 2022
February 9, 2022 (Miami, FL)—JPMorgan Chase today announced Miami is one of six cities receiving a $5 million philanthropic investment to advance economic opportunities for Black and Latina women. Three women-led organizations, Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida (NHSSF), Miami Workers Center and Catalyst Miami, will partner to build worker cooperatives. The worker cooperatives - businesses that are owned and run by the people who work there- will provide good jobs and workplace conditions, as well as wealth-building opportunities for Black and Latina women in Miami-Dade county.
Over the course of the three-year commitment, the collaborative will help launch at least six worker cooperatives with 150 members each. Through these cooperatives, the collaborative partners will build the leadership and entrepreneurial skills of domestic workers, increase pathways toward stable and high-quality employment and promote “fair care” standards among consumers.
“Our vibrant and resilient workforce is Miami-Dade’s greatest strength. But the growth of our economy has not always been as inclusive as it should be,” said Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County Mayor. “With this commitment, we have the opportunity to empower Black and Hispanic women working in the care economy to take control of their careers and businesses and help them thrive financially."
The pandemic disproportionately impacted women of color and their participation in the work force.[1] Moreover, women and people of color experience wage theft and exploitative working conditions at higher rates and are more likely to work low-wage jobs.[2] According to a study recently completed by Miami Workers Center, 84% of Black domestic workers in South Florida lost their jobs due to the pandemic.[3] With support from JPMorgan Chase, the collaborative will equip Black and Latina women in South Florida’s care economy with the tools to launch and develop worker cooperatives. The care economy includes professions in childcare, home health, cleaning and related fields.
Through this commitment, the organizations will:
“We know local communities have the best insights and expertise on their unique needs and are best poised to develop solutions to address them. Our role is boosting those local leaders,” said Demetrios Marantis, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase & Co. "In Miami-Dade, our collaboration with NHSSF, Miami Workers Center and Catalyst Miami will focus on the challenges faced by Black and Latina domestic workers, and ultimately, strengthen the collective community and local economy.”
This commitment is part of JPMorgan Chase’s $30 billion, five-year commitment to advance racial equity and it’s also an extension of a $500 million initiative that JPMorgan Chase announced in 2018 to invest in solutions to drive equitable through community-based strategies.
”To nurture an inclusive economy, NHSSF and our partners Catalyst Miami and Miami Workers Center bring a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to connecting low-wealth employee owners to capital. Funding for that is crucial to empowering Black and Latina women that largely make-up and propel Miami’s Care Economy. NHSSF is honored to be a part of this innovative and much needed approach to supporting small, women-led businesses,” said Kimberly T. Henderson, President and CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida.
This is the second time that a Miami collaborative has been selected. In 2019, JPMorgan Chase awarded $3 million to an initiative led by The Miami Foundation to connect workers and small businesses with technical support, as part of the broader Resilient305 initiative. Leveraging the learnings from the Greater Miami Workforce Asset Mapping (GMWAM) report, The Miami Foundation created LaborMiami.org, a one-stop workforce and small business resource database. To date, 27 partners have joined to share data and support portal outreach. The Miami-Dade County Office of Diversity and Inclusion has formalized a partnership LaborMiami.org and is leveraging the database to drive business recovery.
About JPMorgan Chase’s $500 million commitment to drive growth
In 2018, JPMorgan Chase created a $500 million five-year initiative that combines the firm’s lending capital, philanthropic capital and expertise to support innovative solutions to challenges that have limited equitable and inclusive economic growth. The program includes large scale commitments where deeper investments are needed to drive inclusive growth, as well as a challenge to source innovative cross-sector solutions for U.S. cities. What started as the AdvancingCities Challenge launched in September 2018 has since attracted more than 600 proposals over three cycles; in 2021, we received more than 200 applications from nearly 80 communities across 34 states.
