Center for Economic FUTURES

Reimagining economic opportunity for low-income workers, survivors, women and youth.

Economic insecurity significantly increases a person’s risk of experiencing violence—and can keep survivors within harmful relationships for longer periods due to financial dependency.

And that’s the reality for too many Americans. Consider:

Over 50% of Americans live without economic security, according to a new comprehensive review of well-being by the Urban Institute, which measures costs families must meet to fully participate in today’s society.
Women are still much more likely to face economic insecurity. Two-thirds of low-wage workers are women, often working 2-3 jobs to meet expenses. Women and children make up 70% of the nation’s poor.

But there are economic solutions are at our disposal that help us pursue futures of safety, healing, and hope for all.

The Center for Economic FUTURES advances economic solutions for low-income workers, survivors, women and youth. We ground our work in stories and data that highlight persistent employment barriers to economic opportunity.

OUR WORK

The Center for Economic FUTURES weaves together solutions that build the capacity of workforce systems, increase trauma-informed employment opportunities, and leverage worker rights—strengthening the fabric of our communities for all.

Educating Survivors on Employment Rights

Advancing Safety through Employment Rights. FUTURES increases access for women and survivors to critical employment protections by providing educational opportunities and tailored state-specific resources on paid sick and safe leave, reasonable accommodations, anti-discrimination protection, and unemployment benefits for survivors. This includes a soon-to-launch, groundbreaking AI tool that translates complex employment laws from all 50 states and territories into personalized, actionable guidance for survivors seeking to maintain economic independence.

Shaping Workforce Systems

Increasing Work Opportunities for Women. FUTURES is launching regional Economic Opportunity Hubs in Spring 2026 to advance the most promising strategies to connect survivors to safe employment and build their financial security.

Transforming Workplaces

National Resource Center Workplaces Respond to Domestic and Sexual Violence. Workplaces Respond educates and equips employers, workers, unions, and advocates with the knowledge, tools, and best practices necessary to prevent and respond to the impacts of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sexual harassment (DVSASSH) in the world of work.
Education on the Intersection of Work and Abuse. A survey FUTURES conducted with the National Domestic Violence Hotline confirmed that the majority of survivors who experience abuse are working—and that most workplaces do not provide any training or materials to support survivors in the workplace. The survey was released as a report
Women & AI in the Workplace. AI has quickly emerged as a solution to address the systemic barriers women face in the workplace today. FUTURES responded by organizing a Women & AI in the Workplace virtual event with key women in the AI ecosystem. Using the innovation that AI fosters, the Center seeks to combine AI-powered learning, human-centered design, and model workplace policies and practices to transform how women identify and address workplace toxicity, bias, and violence.

Narrative & Culture Shift

Telling Stories of Economic Trauma and Resilience. The experiences of low-income workers, survivors, women and youth guide our work. FUTURES uplifts stories that reframe what we know and understand about economic barriers, especially those that impact a low-wage worker’s ability to seek, obtain, and maintain employment.

Policy & Systems Change

The Center advances policy change nationally in partnership with others advancing economic security for survivors, including:

Workforce Working Group Addressing DVSASSH. This group works to build guidelines on addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sexual harassment in the workforce system. Please click to join and receive updates.
Economic Security for Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Assault Working Group. This group works to advance economic security of survivors. and published guidelines for cash assistance programs for survivors of domestic and sexual assault. Please click to join and receive updates.
Safe Leave Working Group. This group worked to develop model legislative policy and documentation and confidentiality rules for the development of paid, safe leave. FUTURES recently published an update fact sheet on why Working Survivors need Paid Leave. Please click to join and receive updates.