Empower Work is honored to be named an awardee of the $60 million Workplace Innovation Now (WIN) Challenge, receiving a grant for our partnership with SkillUp Coalition to scale an innovative solution to help women thrive and everyone win in a rapidly changing workplace.

CTIA Wireless Foundation announced its Catalyst 2026 Winners, recognizing Empower Work as an innovator in mobile-first solutions that enhance lives. Catalyst is a competitive grants program for social entrepreneurs using next-generation wireless technology to deliver solutions to the challenges impacting American communities. We are thrilled to support over half a million people navigating tough work challenges. People like HB; a working mom who felt unhappy and stuck at her job, and reached out to a peer counselor through text.

Empower Work is thrilled to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors, Megamo Nesbit and Adam Rosenzweig, at such a pivotal time for the organization.

The need for Empower Work is growing. And so are we. Since launching in 2018, we’ve served over half a million people with 90% reporting improved mental health and agency after a conversation with a peer counselor. As we look ahead at an uncertain economic and political landscape, strengthening our board and team—with workers we serve at the center—helps us rise to meet the challenges ahead and ensure everyone has the ability to thrive across the country.

For millions of American families, food insecurity has little to do with whether someone is working. It has everything to do with whether work pays enough, stays consistent, and comes with the stability needed to plan for basic needs. This is the reality Lemontree, a nonprofit food assistance platform, confronts every day — and it's a reality that overlaps closely with the workplace and employment challenges Empower Work exists to address.

At Empower Work, we hear from thousands of workers navigating challenges related to career growth, job searches, workplace stress, finding stable employment, and more. We’re proud to support people through these moments via our peer support text line, and through partnerships with trusted community spaces like public libraries. We’re thrilled to be testing a new partnership with public libraries starting with the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL), with the goal to supplement the jobs and career support that public libraries offer the library patrons with the Empower Work text line.

A new, innovative workforce collaboration is launching to pilot, test, and learn from how text-based wraparound services can improve outcomes for workforce development communities and their alumni. The partnership of Empower Work, a national nonprofit that provides text-based wraparound coaching and resources, with leading local and national organizations including Memorial Assistance Ministries (MAM), NPower, Per Scholas, SkillUp Coalition, and Year Up United, soft-launched this fall and is rolling out over the next two years with the generous support of Truist Foundation and GitLab Foundation.

Empower Work is thrilled to announce that Michelle Pullaro has joined the team as Chief Growth Officer. In this new role, Michelle will oversee core programmatic growth including our text line, training, and partnership work. We welcome Michelle’s strategic leadership at a unique inflection point as we continue scaling our impact to support 3 million workers—marking a bold step towards creating healthy, equitable workplaces where employees are valued, supported, and empowered in ways that support their economic and emotional well-being.

Empower Work is thrilled to welcome Tina Wie to our Board of Directors during this pivotal moment in scaling our mission. As we celebrate Tina's addition, we also celebrate Jyot Bawa and Emily Kramer, who will transition to Board Emeritus roles. Their contributions have been invaluable in driving our growth and impact.

Additions deepen strategic expertise in scaling Empower Work’s approach that improves economic mobility and emotional well-being for vulnerable workers. Empower Work is excited to add two new members to our Board of Directors, Suprita Makh and Nancy Heinen at a pivotal growth inflection point for Empower Work. Simultaneously, we celebrate the longstanding commitment of Julie Lein, who helped get us to this point, and who will be stepping into Board Emeritus.

Over the past year, Empower Work collaborated  with the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) as they explored a critical question: “How can workplaces be an engine for well-being?” Our team had the pleasure of working with Dr. Vivek Murthy’s research team, including Ashleigh Reeves, Project Lead, OSG Innovation and Design Team, as they explored new recommendations for workplaces rooted in worker voice. And our founder, Jaime-Alexis Fowler, was honored to be part of the launch for the new framework this fall.

In December 2022, Jaime-Alexis sat down with Ashleigh for a digital “fireside chat” with the Empower Work community to dig into the research behind the framework. This is a transcript of their Q&A as they took a look behind the scenes at how the pieces came together.

Work in the U.S. is not working. 47.8 million workers quit their jobs in 2021, an average of 4 million per month. The data is clear. But the lived experiences of workers are missing. Those experiences point to a public health crisis.

Jaime-Alexis Fowler, Founder and Executive Director of Empower Work sits down with Kathy Gu, Purpose Partnerships Lead at Pinterest, to discuss Empower Work and Pinterest’s new partnership and the shared commitment to supporting worker wellbeing.

Black History Month is an important time to celebrate the achievements and triumphs of the Black community. This year’s focus for Black History Month is Black Health and Wellness which calls for workplaces to respect and prioritize the health and safety of Black employees. Workplace health and safety conditions have been an issue that the Black community has fought for since long before our time. Among these activists were the unsung Black women who fought for Labor Rights - women like Coretta Scott King, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Lucy Parsons, Sylvia Woods, and Dora Lee Jones. Although workplace equity still has a long way to go, we have a movement and a legacy to be inspired by, thanks to the Black women activists who paved the way.

As we recognize Labor Day 2021, 18 months have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged across the world and upended workplaces here at home. At Empower Work, we talk directly every day with workers who reach out for support in moments of distress, and we’ve exchanged nearly 200,000 messages since March 2020. Through thousands of vulnerable moments shared, we have a unique view into what people are facing—and what we can do to support them.

A few takeaways from our first 100,000 conversations about work difficulties. Seeing the cumulative data along with personal stories from people who have used Empower Work, I’m floored. Our timely intervention is leading to demonstrably more positive economic and emotional outcomes for underserved workers after livelihood-threatening experiences.