Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Poor job quality in small businesses harms worker wellbeing, weakens businesses, and hinders economic inclusion and resilience. Small business owners often have limited resources to make job quality improvements. Listening to workers can help small business owners prioritize making job quality changes (e.g., increasing compensation, creating predictable schedules, or providing training opportunities to workers) that are most valued by workers. Supporting small business owners in understanding and acting on workers’ perspectives is a promising practice for simultaneously advancing job quality and small business development organizations’ missions to promote economic resilience.
This brief shares lessons from the Shared Success demonstration, led by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, during which 11 community development financial institutions (CDFIs) integrated job quality programming into their small business support services. As a part of the demonstration, four of the 11 Shared Success CDFIs supported small business clients in understanding and acting on workers’ perspectives to improve job quality. The brief details how these CDFIs adapted a focus on workers’ perspectives into their advising services, what CDFIs and small business owners heard from workers, and the types of job quality improvements changes made by small business owners as a result.
Shared Success, a project of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, shows how building better jobs can simultaneously uplift workers while also driving small business success.
About the Economic Opportunities Program
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.
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Video — Shared Success, a project of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, is grounded in the understanding that building better jobs and building stronger businesses go hand in hand.
This infographic shares statistics on impact of the Economic Opportunities Program’s Shared Success demonstration. Dive into a detailed breakdown of the diverse businesses and entrepreneurs involved in this work.
This brief shares key lessons and takeaways that could be used to implement internal job quality practices to strengthen CDFIs and other small business support organizations.
Supporting small business owners in understanding and acting on workers’ perspectives is a promising practice for simultaneously advancing job quality and small business development organizations’ missions to promote economic resilience.
Comprehensive findings from qualitative and quantitative research on participating small business owners and workers conducted at the end of the demonstration will be released in spring 2026.
This endline evaluation of the Shared Success demonstration aims to understand the impact of the work of the 11 community lenders who integrated job quality programming into their small business support services.
