Shared Success Final Evaluation Reports

Tim Ogden

Managing Director, Financial Access Initiative, NYU Wagner Graduate School

Barbara Magnoni

Director, EA Consultants

Tracy Cole

Research Operations Manager (US), Financial Access Initiative, NYU Wagner Graduate School

The following reports share final evaluation findings from the Shared Success demonstration. The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program partnered with The Financial Access Initiative at NYU Wagner and EA Consultants to evaluate the outcomes of the work of the 11 community lenders who integrated job quality into their small business services. 

Surveys and interviews with business owners at the end line of the demonstration reveal the types of job quality improvements made by business owners, as well as their motivations, challenges, and outcomes. Interviews and focus groups with workers employed at businesses receiving support from community lenders explore their perspectives on and experiences of job quality. Key findings include: 

• 92% of small business survey respondents reported making job quality improvements over the course of the Shared Success demonstration.
• 84% reported an observed change in business outcomes from job quality improvements, including more than half who reported improvements in productivity or revenues.
• Nearly 60% credited their community lender partnership with enabling these changes.
• And, a majority of workers report improved job quality experiences over the course of the demonstration. 

These findings suggest that small business owners can make improvements in job quality and these improvements benefit workers and businesses.

Please find an accompanying slide deck summarizing findings from these reports here. 

Shared Success Final Evaluation: Findings from Owners of Small Businesses

Shared Success Final Evaluation: Findings from Workers at Small Businesses