The Good Wages Initiative certifies, celebrates, and showcases Marion County employers that are committed to providing full-time employees both a wage of at least $18/hr and access to employer-sponsored health insurance. EmployIndy launched the Good Wages Initiative in April 2022 and now has 49 partner employers, including Indy Hunger Network. We spoke with Kate Howe, Indy Hunger Network’s Executive Director, about the organization and why it decided to join the Good Wages Initiative.
During the Great Recession, hunger relief organizations were unsure of how to meet the increased need they were seeing, so they went to then Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard to engage him on the issue and push for a centralized system to communicate and collaborate. Indy Hunger Network started in 2009 to serve as that central organization and to facilitate communication, collaboration, and coordination of hunger relief activities throughout the city through public, private, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations and agencies. Indy Hunger Network became an official non-profit organization in 2012 and Howe joined the organization in 2016 as its first staff member; her team now includes six staff and four AmeriCorps VISTA members.
Howe says that the culture of Indy Hunger Network is defined through collaboration, flexibility, innovation, learning, and a commitment to being agents of systems change. The staff look for ways to help their partners do their work better, fill in gaps partners cannot cover, and find ways to be more effective by working together. The overall goal is to build a new system that works better for the people it is intended to serve; in this vein, they look at what is not working well and what they can try, piloting projects to see if they work and scaling them if they are successful and moving on if they are not. Operationally, the staff undertakes weekly continuing education focused on issues of equity, investing the time to become better people and better citizens of the community. They also make sure to have fun and celebrate each other as a way to build camaraderie and team spirit.
The staff at Indy Hunger Network is predominantly grown from within, with a strong pathway from AmeriCorps VISTA to a staff position. AmeriCorps VISTA is a one-year service program focused on capacity building, and it gives the members a chance to gain valuable experience and really own a piece of the work. Howe stated, “Some of them have made themselves invaluable during their time with us and we’ve hired them on. We have these folks who come serve with us for a year, they build a new program, and they’re really good at leading that program, and we hire them on to stay and keep doing it.”
When it came to the Good Wages Initiative, Howe heard about it before it was even called the Good Wages Initiative. Dave Miner, the founder of the Indy Hunger Network and the chairperson of the Good Wages Initiative Steering Committee, shared the idea with Howe as a way to help address hunger. In Howe’s words, “We’ve been sold on the concept since the beginning. When it came time to become a Good Wages certified employer, we were on board.”
Howe hopes that joining the Good Wages Initiative has two big impacts. First, she wants to help set the standard for other hunger relief organizations. “If we can do it, and we’re the smallest organization, you all can do it, too, and you just have to build it into your budget,” Howe said. Second, she wants Indy Hunger Network to be attractive to potential employees, even if they are not familiar with the organization; she hopes that when people are looking at jobs, they will see that Indy Hunger Network is a good place to work, a place where they will be valued, respected, treated well, and supported.
When asked why wages and health insurance are important, Howe stated, “You can’t do good work if you’re worried about paying the bills. You can’t do good work if you don’t think you can afford health care. If we want to retain good people, especially in a market like this, we have to pay them well for the work they do. It’s so important to retain your good people, especially for a small organization likes ours. If we lose a good employee, it’s really hard to find someone who can fill those shoes and get up to speed on years of experience. My goal is to make people happy with their compensation; we want them to feel like Indy Hunger Network cares about their happiness and well-being. Health care and wages are the most important things for their quality of life.”
Long-term, she hopes all companies in Central Indiana join the Good Wages Initiative, noting the connection between wages and need for hunger relief services. “If more people join the Good Wages Initiative, it’ll make my job easier. We’re trying to help people get out of poverty, and the best way to do that is to pay people what they’re worth.”
To learn more about the Indy Hunger Network, visit https://www.indyhunger.org.