Mission, Vision, Goals, Strategy

Mission

UFE raises awareness that concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart. We support and help build social movements for greater equality.

Vision

Our vision is of a global society where prosperity is better shared, where there is genuine equality of opportunity, where the power of concentrated money and corporations neither dominates the economy nor dictates the content of mass culture. We envision communities and nations without disparities of income, wages, wealth, health, safety, respect, and opportunities for recreation and personal growth.

We aspire to build communities that are socially and environmentally sustainable, where children are cherished and nurtured, and cultural and racial differences among people are valued and celebrated. We envision an economy where everyone contributes to society with their labor and everyone benefits from society's financial growth. We envision a society in which values, not profits alone, guide economic decisions.

Goals

Our goals are to close the growing wealth divide, to change the rules that tilt tax benefits increasingly toward the wealthy, to spotlight the role of race in economic inequality, and to serve as a forum where different races, different cultures, and people with varying degrees of wealth can come together to work for economic justice.

Strategies

Education for Action: We use participatory education to deepen analysis, develop critical thinking, and move people to action. We have conducted our flagship workshop, "The Growing Divide: Economic Inequality and the Roots of Insecurity" for over 70,000 people in religious congregations, unions, community organizations and business associations.

In the past year, we trained over 400 people to lead the "Growing Divide" and other UFE curricula on racial wealth disparities, globalization, and state budget crises. We organized a three day Training of Trainers' Institute in Tennessee. And, we have conducted Spanish-language workshops.

Media: We reach beyond the converted to expand the public conversation and influence debate on economic issues. Our capacity to influence public attitudes through talk radio, print media, and television continues to grow. Our work has also appeared on a variety of blogs and online magazines.

Our media work multiplies our reach and adds credibility to our message of economic fairness. We have had more than 2,000 media hits in the past two years. The campaign to preserve the estate tax alone yielded 500 major media hits in a three-month period. Our message - and often our spokespeople - was covered by every major television network and syndicated print publication.

Research Publications and Books: We write, research, and disseminate articles, books, and curricula for a variety of constituencies. We produce several yearly reports on wage disparities, the influence of race on economics, corporate responsibility, and other topics tied to current events. We conduct original research but also repackage existing reports and data to make them accessible to wider audiences.

Responsible Wealth: Our Responsible Wealth (RW) project is a surprising and welcome voice for economic fairness. This network of over 750 business leaders, investors and other wealthy people works to build a fairer economy through shareholder activism, support for the living wage, and fair taxation work.

RW members have filed numerous shareholder resolutions advocating a fairer economy over the years. And once again, RW's voice was the backbone of the most recent victory in staving off permanent repeal of the federal estate tax.

Cross-Class, Cross-Race Networking Opportunities: At UFE, the feeling is strong that social change will not happen without a multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-class base. Across the country, we need to foster a broad sentiment for greater equality. To move closer to this goal, we sponsor and organize a variety of events that bring together those from different walks of life and encourage individuals and groups to build relationships to strengthen the economic justice movement.