Job Quality Fellowship

The Job Quality Fellowship brings together leaders from differing lines of work, in communities across the country, who are working to expand the availability of better quality jobs. While the economy has expanded, too few workers share in the benefits. Low-wage work is far too pervasive, and the time is now to address this challenge directly. We can no longer afford to have hard working people excluded from the abundance of our economy and marginalized by our society. We need to focus in this moment on the opportunities we have to improve the quality of jobs, and the lives and livelihoods of millions of individuals and families.

In our next fellowship class, selected Fellows will work together from October 2025 to July 2026 to expand their networks and engage in peer learning, self-reflection, and strategic analysis that will support their work to improve job quality in the South. Through this cohort, we hope to uplift the efforts of forward-thinking job quality practitioners who can inspire others in the South and nationwide who are striving to bring about an economy that works for all.

The Economic Opportunities Program convened the inaugural class of Job Quality Fellows in 2017, and inducted its second class of Fellows in 2018. Current support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Prudential Financial, and Surdna Foundation. Founding support from the Prudential Financial and the Ford Foundation.