With great economic power comes great responsibility. And great opportunity.

The $2 trillion in infrastructure funding that will flow to communities from the federal government over the next decade will build and repair more than the nation’s roads and bridges, thanks to new guidelines fought for by the Local Opportunities Coalition and announced by the Biden administration on April 4, 2024. It has the power to transform America’s communities.

The language in the Office of Management and Budget’s new “uniform grants guidance” ensures “that a variety of pro-community, pro-equity, and pro-worker policy tools are not prohibited by the guidance, thus allowing states and localities to utilize practices in their contracting that had previously been prohibited or unclear,” according to the coalition, which put together a memo highlighting some of the most important updates to the guidance. In announcing the changes, the White House said the updates will streamline and clarify requirements for $1.2 trillion of annual Federal funding.

To help people understand what the new language means, the Local Opportunities Coalition and Jobs to Move America (JMA) are co-hosting a webinar on May 2nd with Rutgers Workplace Justice Lab to share information about the updates and how they can be used as a tool to advance worker and community benefits. Please find the details and link to register below.

Empowering States & Localities:
How OMB’s Uniform Guidance Can Ensure Federal Funds Work for our Workers & Communities
Webinar: Thursday, May 2nd from Noon – 1:15 EST 

To Register: click here

Since the 1980s, a set of federal grant guidelines, known as the Uniform Guidance, that determines how states and cities can spend federal money, has limited states’ and cities’ abilities to attach labor and equity standards to federally funded contracts. Following advocacy led by the Local Opportunities Coalition, the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) – the federal agency that oversees these guidelines- has now taken a major step to remove these decades-long restrictions and transform how communities can use the trillions in federal funds flowing to states and cities to craft policies that create community benefits and quality jobs for local workers. Community organizations have a significant new opportunity to win mandatory and enforceable worker and community benefits.

Topics Covered: 

• How equity, job quality, sustainability, and community benefits can now be attached to federal funding
• How updated guidance can help prevent mis-classification, protect worker’s rights to organize and win sustainable contracting
• Key alliances and strategies to win these new standards in your community
• Successful local hire campaigns we can learn from as we build federal efforts

Speakers: 

• Madeline Janis – Jobs to Move America’s Co-Executive Director
• Janice Fine – Professor and Director of the Workplace Justice Lab
• Anna Smith – Jobs to Move America
• Valerie Lizárraga – Jobs to Move America
• Leone Jose Bicchieri – Working Family Solidarity, Chicago