Our Story
EJAM was founded in 2013 as an alliance of grassroots organizations engaged in leadership development and advocacy to build working-class power. We were founded by a group of African American female leaders addressing a variety of social justice issues. including improving wages and working conditions for restaurant workers, raising the voices of mothers on public policy, and transforming systems to make a more racially just Detroit. Their missions intersect around economic justice and improving the quality of life for working-class families.
Current partners and the geographies they serve are Detroit People’s Platform (Detroit), Restaurant Opportunities Center – Michigan (Southeast Michigan), The New Ezekiel Project (Saginaw), Mothering Justice (statewide), and Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network (Southeast Michigan and Upper Peninsula).
MISSION
The Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan (EJAM) is a long-term collaboration of community organizations aiming to build the power and impact of low-income and working-class communities across the state.
Impact
- Graduated over 100 people from the Michigan Economic Justice Fellowship, a nine-month program designed to unlock a passion for civic engagement and motivate leaders to create community power to advance change.
- Helped fellows find permanent employment with all past and present partner organizations and other non-profits, working on communications, organizing, and voter education projects.
- Prepared fellows to pursue their political ambitions like serving on Detroit’s charter commission and Michigan’s redistricting council and managing re-election campaigns.
- Achieved an incremental increase in the minimum wage.
- Catalyzed a collaborative statewide effort, resulting in Michigan becoming the 11th state to win earned paid sick time.
- Raised millions to build Michigan economic justice organizations’ capacity.
