Transcript

Maureen Conway (00:04)

Welcome. My name is Maureen Conway. I’m a vice president here at The Aspen Institute and executive director of our Economic Opportunities Program. And it is my great pleasure to welcome you to today’s conversation, How Good Jobs Support Small Businesses: lessons from the Shared Success Demonstration. So we are here talking about this demonstration in 2022 with the generous support of the Gates Foundation. The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program launched the Shared Success Demonstration. This initiative supports 11 unique community development finance institutions, or CDFIs as we like to call them, and it supports them to integrate job quality supports into their support for their small business clients.The Shared Success CDFIs hail from across the country. They work in rural, urban, suburban areas. They work in a variety of industries, in childcare and manufacturing and construction and a whole host of different industries. And over the past three years, they’ve pursued strategies tailored to the specifics of their communities and of the businesses that they work with, but all towards a common goal, to improve the quality of jobs for workers and build stronger, more resilient businesses. Shared Success connects what we at The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program think of as two really crucial avenues of economic opportunity and avenues that too often run separately from each other.So the work supports small businesses and opportunities for entrepreneurship and supporting entrepreneurs and the work supports work to help people access good jobs. Shared Success tries to weave together both the good jobs work and the small business success work, creating a fabric of shared prosperity in the communities in which they operate. So why does this matter? It matters because of a vibrant economy, one that truly delivers on the promise of opportunity, it requires both a thriving small business sector and quality jobs. When people have access to good jobs, they can support their families, plan for the future, and contribute to their communities. And when small businesses can attract and retain skilled, motivated workers, they’re better positioned to innovate, grow, and serve as engines of local opportunity.Now we recognize that not everybody has the same idea. Most people have had jobs, most people have an idea of what’s a good job, but also we know, like what I think is a good job and what somebody else thinks is a good job might not exactly match up. So at the Economic Opportunities Program, we spend a lot of time thinking about, so what is a good job? We’ve done a lot of research on this. We’ve done a lot of focus groups with businesses, we’ve talked to business owners as well. And three things always seem to come up as components of a good job. So one is a concept of economic stability. So a good job should provide the wages and benefits and things people need to meet their daily needs, right? So it should help people have a basic sense of economic stability in their lives. It should provide some kind of opportunity.So this could be an opportunity to learn new skills and grow. This could be an opportunity to advance in a particular career path or it could just be the opportunity to build wealth and a nest egg that allows you the ability to plan for your future. And then the third thing is one that’s… It’s a little bit more intangible, but it’s no less important, which is this idea of respect. The idea that your work is valued, that you are treated fairly and with due consideration. That you have the ability to express your views on how work should be done and those views will be respected and taken into account. So those are the three things that come up in different forms and in different ways people might emphasize different aspects of it.And I’ll just say as a side note, and it may come up in our conversation today, when we encourage organizations to think about how they look to advance job quality, we encourage them to think about what are the aspects of job quality that are meaningful for the work that they do, and really to build a definition that helps them guide their work. So all of that is to say that’s how we think of what is a good job. And I think that encompasses a lot of things, but you may have other aspects that you think should be front and center and that’s great. Many definitions can be okay in this case. The other thing I wanted to mention about these three things is economic stability, opportunity and respect, they’re not luxuries, right?These are the basics. These are the cornerstone of the American dream, right? If we’re in a country that respects work and hard work is supposed to get your reward, then these are the kinds of things we need to see in work and in workplaces. Yet far too many people in our country lack these things. And I often say we’re facing a job quality crisis. Now there’s a lot of dimensions to job qualities I mentioned, and many of them we don’t have very good data on, but we do have good data on wages. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, more than 26 million people in the United States earn less than $17 an hour. So that’s really not a livable wage in most parts of the country, and that just makes it really challenging to do a good job, right?I often say if you want people to do a good job, they need to have a good job. And many of these workers who earn these low wages we know are employed by small businesses. But the good news is we don’t have to think about small businesses as the problem because really they can be part of the solution. And that’s what we’ve been learning in Shared Success. We’ve seen that small businesses really can make meaningful differences in the quality of jobs that they offer to their workers. We’ve seen that when they do, it’s not only good for their workers, but it also can strengthen their business. And we’ve seen that the community development finance institutions that we’ve been working with through their services really can make a meaningful difference in how businesses make choices and operationalize job quality in their business.So today we’re really excited to share what we’ve learned on this journey, what’s worked, what’s been challenging and what’s possible. And so we’re just thrilled to have you all with us for this conversation. Before I launch into our next panel and everything, I will just note, so first of all, today’s conversation is divided into two panels. And I’ll welcome our first panel in just a minute, but we’re also joined by many people virtually. So I want to spend a moment going over our technical details here. So I will just note that all of the virtual attendees are muted, but we welcome your questions. Please use the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen. Someone will be monitoring questions and can hopefully share them with us here. We also encourage you to share your perspective.I know many of you joining us online as well as folks in the room have experience with these issues. So please share your comments, ideas, resources in the chat as we go along. We always appreciate your feedback. Please take a quick moment to respond to our feedback survey at the end of the webinar. It should pop up in your browser. We encourage you to post about this conversation. You can also do that in the room, although silence your phone, our hashtag is talkopportunity. And if you have any technical issues, please contact us. You can either put something in the chat or contact us at [email protected]. This event is being recorded and will be shared via email, posted on our website and closed captions are available for this discussion, so please click the CC button at the bottom of your screen to activate them if you would like.Okay. Now that we’re done with that. It is my great pleasure to welcome our first panel for today’s conversation, examples of how small businesses and CDFIs are working together to advance job quality. My colleague Lauren Starks, Director of the Good Companies/Good Jobs Initiative at the Economic Opportunities Program will moderate our discussion today. And joining Lauren is Eunice Straight Head, Co-Director at Oyate Studio based on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Laura Owens, Chief of Staff at VChief and Consultant for Four Bands Community Fund in South Dakota. Tristan Bredehoft, Co-Owner and Founder of Cafe Rica in Battle Creek, Michigan, and Israel Flores, Director of Business Services at Northern Initiatives in Michigan. So Lauren, let me turn it over to you.

Lauren Starks (09:36)

Thanks so much, Maureen, and thank you to everyone joining us today. I echo that over the past three years, EOP has worked closely with our Shared Success cohort. We have learned so much about how CDFIs across America are integrating job quality support into their small business services with the goal of improving job quality for small business employees and building greater resilience. This is such an important time for this work, as we all know. And one of the inspirations behind this project is that it’s brought us insights about purpose, but also about possibilities. We have learned about why job quality matters to small businesses, but also very importantly, how it can be done, how it’s possible. So in this first panel, we’re going to explore the value that small business owners see in investing in job quality and learn more about their experiences partnering with CDFIs to move that work forward.We’re also going to explore how CDFIs are supporting small businesses and learn more about how CDFIs writ large could build a focus on job quality into their advising work. So I’m really happy to be here today with four phenomenal panelists. We have two small business owners with us, alongside an expert they are partnering with at two CDFIs that are in our Shared Success demonstration. I’d like to start the conversation by asking each of you to introduce yourself and your organization’s work. So we’ll start with you, Eunice. Welcome. It’s a privilege to have you here with us as co-director of Oyate Studio. Oyate has such a powerful mission of improving the lives of women and their families on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Can you tell us more about that mission and about your role as co-director?

Eunice Straight Head (11:42)

[foreign language 00:11:29]. Hi, everyone. My name is Eunice Straight Head. I am the co-director of Oyate Studio. I’m Mnicoujou Lakota from the Cheyenne River Reservation, and I’m also the 2024/2025 Miss He Sapa Win. I am here to represent the Cheyenne River Reservation and also Oyate Studio. Oyate Studio is basically based on cultural revitalization through the arts, traditional and contemporary, without the professional development and help of four bands and also everything that we do there. We provide a place of community, we create star quilts, leather belts, leather work. Like what I’m wearing today is very similar to it. Yeah, I would definitely go into more depth, but we do have a website and Instagram. We just do a lot of different things, but I’m really happy to be here and see everyone. It’s an honor to be here. It’s my second time in Washington, DC and it’s very welcoming.

Lauren Starks (12:39)

Thank you so much, Eunice. Laura, welcome. Thanks for being with us. Four Bands has been a participant in the Shared Success demonstration for two years. I know that you’re not technically part of the Four Bands staff, but I understand that you’ve had a big role in their journey so far. I think it’s really interesting how you’re bringing a lens of nonprofit technical assistance, and also you’ve had a strong focus on building capacity in rural communities. Can you tell us about how you’ve been partnering with Four Bands and Oyate?

Laura Owens (13:11)

Sure. Hi, my name is Laura Owens and I am an independent consultant who’s worked mostly with nonprofits. I’ve partnered with Four Bands for about four years now, and I’ve worked with the Oyate Studio for about two years now. So I have worked… Four Bands is in a really rural community, and so the ability to provide technical assistance to a startup business that’s just started can be a challenge. So I partner with them and partner with Eunice to really… We’ve worked deeply around HR, technical assistance, building organizational culture. And I’m really someone who they can tap into to help the Oyate Studio be the place that it is. So I am thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.

Lauren Starks (13:58)

Thank you. Hello, Tristan. Great to have you from Battle Creek, Michigan. Tristan, I know you have a background in the restaurant industry and that has really shaped your journey. It’s helped inform what you know you want to be as a business owner, and it’s part of the story of how you started Cafe Rica with your brother Jackson. Could you tell us more about what led you to founding Cafe Rica and put you on the path to working with Northern Initiatives?

Tristan Bredehoft (14:29)

So hello, good afternoon. Thank you for having me on this panel today. My name is Tristan Bredehoft, the co-founder of Cafe Rica and Battle Creek. We really are just a place of community. We wanted to build a community. My background is in restaurants. I started about a decade ago working at a Michigan State bar and I just saw a lot of toxicity, a lot of bad behavior that was created in that environment and that really made me want to change the way that I came as a business owner. And so that’s why I wanted to be a leader in the change.

Lauren Starks (15:09)

Thank you, Tristan. And Israel, welcome. We have gotten a chance to know you over the last three years of Shared Success. You’ve been deeply involved and we’ve talked a lot together about how you’ve worked with small business owners like Tristan and others across Michigan to make sure they have the tools and the awareness to implement effective job quality strategies. Could you tell us more about your role as Business Services Director at Northern Initiatives and your involvement in the demonstration?

Israel Flores (15:39)

Absolutely. Hi, my name is Israel Flores. I am the Business Services Director for Northern Initiatives. I am also based in Battle Creek, Michigan. So actually my office is a few buildings down. So you can imagine having good coffee, it’s fantastic every morning. And a good place to be. So my role as a business services director, I am responsible to provide technical assistance to all our customers through my team. So we are again, a community development financial institution. We provide technical assistance to all our customers and be part of this success story though, I mean, Shared Success demonstration. It was actually fantastic to be part of this, not just because of the demonstration and the opportunities, but also being in a room full of people who we try to achieve the same goals.I think that was absolutely the greatest opportunity that we as an organization had, and we really appreciate that of course. So and again, being part of this success demonstration, it is really important for us to continue doing this work for the job quality as many people… I think Maureen was saying this earlier, right? What is a good job look to you? I can tell you, we can get a million different answers and we’re here to explore those answers and make sure that people are happy and also they have a good quality of life later on. And we’re going to provide support for small businesses owners.

Lauren Starks (17:12)

That is the perfect transition and we’re really lucky to have such expertise here with us to help tell that story and really explain why making good jobs a priority is not only good for workers, but it’s good for businesses and it’s good for communities. So we’re going to shift now to diving deeper. We’re going to transition a bit to hearing about why small business owners and the CDFIs that are supporting them should care about job quality and then double click on some of the strategies that CDFIs are using to support that work. So Eunice, I want to start with you and get some perspective on why job quality is so important to the mission of Oyate Studio and also just here, how have you and Four Bands been partnering to create quality jobs?

Eunice Straight Head (18:02)

Well, right now it’s a lot of professional development. There’s not a lot of opportunities for artists because right now they’re primarily artists. A lot of them didn’t know how to sew and they came in and were able to understand what’s the process behind professional development, the responsibility behind it, accountability, being able to reach that sort of… It’s a learning experience for me as well. Four Bands has taught me a lot of the foundations of what I need to do, how I can apply myself in the best way possible other than just showing up. There’s a lot more to it. So they were able to provide me role models in a way because I see them as aunties, they’re co-directors but I grew up with them.Me and Raya are both co-directors. We both grew up on the reservation, we both came back, got our degrees. Right now I’m in my master’s program and being able to look up to these women that they’re able to give back to their communities as a nonprofit, as a CDFI, they really look out for us and they’re able to be hard on me and Raya and be able to teach us all of these really important skills to have. Yeah, it’s really great. The partnership that we have with them, I can’t imagine anyone else that can understand us from where we come from and what we do.

Lauren Starks (19:22)

That’s so powerful. And building the foundation and getting the supports around you to do the work is so critical. Laura, we’ve heard how important it is for small businesses, especially in rural areas, to have a network of providers that help them navigate the challenges of advancing quality jobs. And given your experience, your background, your deep work, I would love to hear how you’ve partnered with Oyate in particular to advance those goals.

Laura Owens (19:48)

Absolutely. And before I get into that, I just wanted to shout out Raya, who’s sitting over there, who’s the co-director of Oyate Studio with Eunice. Yeah, so in a rural community, it can be challenging to access all the skills needed for a startup business. And so Four Bands has really built this vast network of people with expertise. I’m one of them who can work with their clients to really build capacity and technical assistance. And so I was partnered up with Raya and Eunice and it’s a virtual relationship. I don’t live in South Dakota. And it worked really well because like Eunice just said, she and Raya are young, they’re from the community.They came back to invest and build their community and they have all of that amazing vision and knowledge. But they didn’t have a lot of experience starting a business, building organizational culture, managing staff, putting into place policies and procedures that make a small business more efficient and effective to run. And so that’s really how we have partnered virtually every week. And one other statistic I’ll just say is that on the Cheyenne River, there’s something called a dependency rating. So it means that… It’s kind of measuring the people in the community that are dependent on the people in the job force.So where the Oyate studio is located, it’s a 92% dependency rating. And so that means that 92% of the population is dependent on the 8% of the workforce that’s working. And so I just only raise that to just show the… And that’s because the community is really a lot of elders and young people. And so I just kind of raise that to show, in addition to being rural, some of the reasons why Four Bands has this kind of vast network of resources that are building capacity to the people there.

Lauren Starks (22:04)

And building capacity is building communities and building strength. That’s so helpful to know, Laura. Thank you. Tristan and Israel, I want to hear from you on the same question here. Reasons that you believed it was important to focus on job quality. Tristan, as a small business owner, you shared your background in the restaurant industry. If you could share more, that would be great.

Tristan Bredehoft (22:29)

Yeah, absolutely. So when I started in the restaurant industry 10 years ago, I was very, very green, zero experience at all. So I didn’t know any of the norms that came with the restaurant industry. So when I jumped in, I started seeing things like… Well, one in Michigan, the tipped wage is $3. And so it really creates this financial scarcity. For me, myself when I was there, I was like, “Oh, man, I need to get paid. I need to make money. I need to make rent.” And as a college student, that’s a huge part of my life. And so it made me do things like steal from the business to actually get more tips from the people that really employed me, the customers. And so I just didn’t like that.And then I also saw things like sexual harassment on a day-to-day basis, and it was even encouraged by the management staff. So that was another reason I just was very… I didn’t like the restaurant industry. And then that really transitioned to me when I started to look at building a business. I vowed to myself that I would never want any of my employees to feel that way. I didn’t want them to feel like they didn’t know where their next paycheck was coming, that they had to do things that were against store policy. I didn’t want them to feel unsafe and I wanted them to feel heard and seen. So that was the three main reasons why I decided I wanted to be a good employer.

Lauren Starks (23:58)

And just to carry on, can you tell us more about your work with Good for Michigan and the path that led you to Northern Initiatives?

Tristan Bredehoft (24:08)

Yeah, so because that was the mission that we led with, we led with Compassion. Israel noticed that. He saw what we were doing for the restaurant industry, what we were doing to be a good job. And so he approached us and was like, “Hey, here’s some extra training, some extra resources that could help you move that mission forward.” And so then we got connected with the Good for Michigan team and went through a cohort and it really opened up what is possible to be a good job. It’s not just about pay, it’s not just about PTO, it’s about respect, being good for the community, being good for the environment. And so that actually led us to winning the Good for Michigan Governance Award where we are the top business in those three categories, community, sustainability and employer. And that actually led us to our next goal, which is wanting to be B Corp certified. And so we’re trying to get that done by the end of 2025.

Lauren Starks (25:13)

You all talk about it with such ease, but I think we all know that we’re not in this work because it’s easy and we know there are challenges. It’s not a straight line and there are a lot of folks that you need to have around you to help you reach those next levels. And so hearing that journey, we know that wasn’t easy, so that’s fantastic. Speaking of these challenges and lessons learned along the way, I want to pivot to thinking with you about how has… Particularly you Eunice, Four Bands have been a part of the process of overcoming challenges in the process of advancing quality jobs at Oyate?

Eunice Straight Head (25:51)

Like Laura said, the dependency rates. Livable wage is something that Raya and I are very aware of and what we’re trying to get to, which is like $20 an hour in the survey of the State of South Dakota. Right now, we pay our employees about $15 an hour and the lowest paying job in Taco John’s, for example, one of those places is $11.50 an hour, and some of them have to go home and provide for five families in their household. Right now, I had to come back and live with my mom, even though I got my bachelor’s, got my master’s, came back, and worked a full-time job.I do live with my mom because of our housing, we don’t have a lot of places to come back and live, so that’s hard on us too. But we see every single challenge, every single month is always something different. It was my first time writing a policy with Laura here and it was something different. It was something that I have never had to think about until now, especially when you’re starting up from the ground up. Having these foundational parts of this business is really helping us create a good work environment, which is not really a lot on the reservation, but I’m super thankful for every challenge that comes my way because every single one is a lesson and we face it with a positive mindset every single time.

Lauren Starks (27:20)

The learning mindset, right? And the teachable moments. I’m the daughter of a second grade teacher, so I always figure out a way to weave in the teaching angle. Tristan, what strategies have you used to face challenges that have come up along that path to B Corp certification?

Tristan Bredehoft (27:37)

Yeah. Like Eunice said, the main focus you have is livable wage, but I learned quickly that that’s not the only way to make people feel secure. So we used what we’ve learned from NI and Good for Michigan as a way to understand flexible scheduling, understanding that the employees really want to be heard and seen. And so we changed the way that we manage. We are managing with a let’s talk to our team first instead of just doing a command and directive kind of way. So we really brought them into all those things and it really has created a good environment for people to learn and grow and exceed. We’ve had art shows where our employees are the leading artists. We’ve had them create new menu items, so we really just get them all involved so that we can get over those hurdles.

Lauren Starks (28:32)

I want to pause on that for a moment because you said something that’s so important to the work that we’ve done and what we’ve learned in Shared Success is this aspect of worker voice and bringing that into the work and really letting that inform and help you build priorities to create and build and advance higher quality jobs. And I’ll put this to others on the panel who want to respond as well, but could you say more about that aspect of your work? How did you do that? How did you bring worker voice into this work and what did that do for you?

Tristan Bredehoft (29:06)

So we just started by just having non-formal talkings, like hey… They’re little huddles we call them. Like, Hey, what’s going on? What’s working well, what’s not? And just paying attention and hearing and just asking the question to start. That’s how we started. And then as we start building policies and core values, we really learn to bring them in and so that again, they have that voice, they have the way to move the business to a place that they also want to see it in.

Israel Flores (29:35)

Sorry, I just want to say that I think you say a key word, policy. So you need to have those things in place, right? Even if you’re in a restaurant. I think it’s a small business. I think it’s one of those things right now that because you are a small business, you don’t think that you need an employment handbook, for example, that you don’t need a job description. Absolutely right. So you need to have those in place in order to make sure that everybody follows the policy and the rules and the place to become a really good work environment, which is what they create. Last night we had this conversation with Tristan, right? They have to make a really hard decision to… They need to let somebody go for not following the policy. Again, this is the rules that they implement and that’s job quality. It was hard. It’s not an easy decision, but you have to follow those because it’s what you want to create that environment for job quality for your employees.

Eunice Straight Head (30:37)

Just to follow up on the flexibility part, there are moments where our employees can’t really make it to work. Staying in South Dakota, we don’t really have the luxury of driving or walking just right to our work. Sometimes just to get across to get to the nearest Walmart is like two hours away. So our cars is a big part of us. Sometimes our employees cannot make it. So Raya and I take it out of our day and make sure we go pick them up. Whenever women are crafting traditionally in Lakota culture is like we join as a group and we do it together. We share laughs, we share everything. So having that culture implemented and how these women are contributing to their community means a lot.So just after graduation season, we were able to make eight custom CEBs for our local high school where Raya and I graduated, and some of their students are graduating because they’re all predominantly mothers. They’re all mothers, sometimes they’re gone from work at times they have to take off. So that’s really hard, but we always make sure to accommodate them because we understand the cultural significance of what comes to preparing a graduate, especially since it’s such a small percentage of indigenous graduates. So we just want to make sure that we’re contributing to not only our generation, but the next generation.

Laura Owens (31:46)

And I would just add one other thing. Oyate Studio means the People’s Studio, and I think that Eunice and Raya have done a really beautiful job at setting a vision for what that means. There’s a manufacturing component to it where they’re making star quilts. There’s also a co-working artisan space that I think is really motivating to workers. So as Eunice said, 100% of the staff are women. They are mostly the primary breadwinners and caretakers of their families. And they’ve created a really motivating and safe inclusive environment at Oyate Studio and also built in a lot of Lakota traditional values such as… I don’t know, Eunice, if you want to say how you start off your day every day. I think this is actually pretty cool, but I think one of the reasons is it’s a high-quality job and it’s really impacting the community. It’s known as a place that has good jobs, but also a fun place for artists where you can come and create… Try out whatever you’re doing. But I’ll just let Eunice say how they start their day because this is cool.

Eunice Straight Head (33:03)

Oh, yeah. Before, we wait for everyone to come inside and we smudge together. We smudge together to cleanse ourselves, let go of everything that’s outside of these walls and we come into the studio not only to work, but just be together. So every single hand and everything that touches the star quilt, these women and workers and us have a part in it, whether it’s actually physically making the quilts or it’s me and Raya doing QuickBooks for the first time.

Lauren Starks (33:37)

And there’s something so powerful with the image of all of us putting our hands on this work and creating something that’s stronger together and really is about our Shared Success. So before we take questions from our audience, I want to give a moment for each of you to share a closing thought, and this is the aha moment. Was there something that along the way you’ve realized has been key to effectiveness in this space? And I’m going to start with you, Israel, and then we’ll work our way this way.

Israel Flores (34:09)

Sure. Well, I think an aha moment but also, I think what ‘s important is to recognize all the job… Actually all the work that has been done, for example, and I just put it right here next to me, Tristan, right? And Cafe Rica, we as an NI… Me as a person I will not take credit for any of that. At the end of the day, they are the ones who are making those decisions and making those changes. I think our responsibility as an organization is to provide that support so they can have the tools, the resources and everything else to be successful. I think they will be the small businesses, they will be creating and helping the economy, local economy where believe it not, I think if you have a better wage, you will be living better.You will spend more dollars locally. Also, people who know that they are doing that job, of course I will want to spend my dollars in that business, right? But also if you think about it, it’s also healthy, right? I mean, because you are living with less stress when you are in a good environment. Again, I certainly hope that one day, if you are in Battle Creek, please go and visit Cafe Rica. It’s a whole different environment. It’s one of those places that if you go to a Starbucks or any other coffee place, you will see people who are so serious, all the workers. You walk into Cafe Rica, you’ll hear people, employees singing, laughing, talking about it, creating this environment where you’re having a meeting, an important meeting, right? And by having all of that around you, it makes your meetings more productive, but you’re feeling good and of course feeling good as community members love to be there and also you see the employees really happy.

Tristan Bredehoft (35:58)

One of the aha moments, I think it came right before Northern Initiatives linked us up with Good for Michigan. But while pay is great, it’s not everything that makes it a good job. And I was having a meeting with a former employee that I was like, “Hey, I want you to stay. Here’s more money.” And they still chose to leave. And then when I started going through the Good for Michigan cohort, I understood all these vast different things that a business can do to make it a good job. Now, at first I was a little daunting. I was like, whoa, there’s so much to do. But then it clicked in me. I was like, there’s so much to do. I can start anywhere, start small and just work my way up. As long as the goal is to get better. It’s all about the progress. It’s not about what’s ahead of me.

Laura Owens (36:51)

I think for me, the aha moment with Oyate Studio was really around flexibility. As I mentioned, our workforce is mostly 100% women, and we were having trouble giving schedules, doing a consistent eight hour shift. And so what we ultimately are still continuing to work on is the women can go home after school to care for children. We’re very flexible. They can go back in the evenings if they have availability or on the weekends. And I think really just meeting people where they are and understanding that it is a community, and that this is a place that is providing consistent, really special jobs, but that we really need to meet people where they are.If someone isn’t showing up for work, it’s not because they’re sleeping in, it’s because maybe their car broke and that is going to take a two-hour drive to go fix it, several days for the car to get fixed, several days for it to come back. That happened to an employee recently who hit a deer, and so that employee is out and now their person on the line isn’t there for making the quilts. So we just had to be more flexible and also develop a bench of artisans that we can call in to, who might not be there every day, but are willing to come in if we need extra staffing. So flexibility and meeting people where they are.

Eunice Straight Head (38:29)

Definitely making it work where we can. We don’t have… Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah. We’re really good at making do with what we have. If there’s one mindset that Rya and I go in with our leadership and Four Bands is that we make it work with what we can. We rely on our community, we rely on other people. Our small business, we had to get used to a new POS system inventory, and what we did is we went to go visit other businesses and what they used, especially locally, that’s what we try to do our best on. But my aha moment would definitely be when we had our partnership with 3 Feathers, when we had our partnership with Four Bands, just seeing the resources of people and their knowledge and skills and what they can provide for what this can grow into. We are just a seed and a little sprout right now, but we are hoping to become something bigger and that is giving back to our community next generations. My dream and Raya’s dream is to have our own studio where we’re able to give scholarships to native students and just grow bigger than the space… We already outgrew our space with how many employees we have right there, right now. And just the support is the aha moment for me.

Lauren Starks (39:48)

Thank all of you for such an inspiring conversation. You’ve left us with such a moment. This is possible. We’re going to take a couple of questions from our audience now, and we have team members throughout the room who have microphones. Raise your hand if you have a question and we also have our audience online submitting questions.

Laura Flamm (40:13)

Good afternoon. My name’s Laura Flamm and I’m with Kaiser Permanente’s Impact Spending department. My question is, what role would you like to see large institutions, especially anchor institutions like hospitals, healthcare systems, universities, play in advancing this work? Thank you.

Israel Flores (40:38)

Well, I mean, again, so we are looking at this demonstration: how important is your quality? Of course we would love for them to be part of that. Again, creating those opportunities not just to create better pay as we were talking about, but also the environment. I think many places, though you will see that, that it’s going to be toxic places. Again, we’re talking about these small businesses, but for bigger organizations and companies, yeah, we would love to see that. Again, to be honest with you, I would love to see bigger corporations sharing their profits, having a living wage or better wages for their employees because they don’t need all those billions of dollars in their pockets. They can easily share those with all the people, and I’m telling you, we will be a better place.

Speaker (41:37)

I just wanted to respond to your question real quickly and then I have one for you. I think one of the things that large institutions can do is purchase from small businesses that are embodying these kinds of values to help these entities grow and thrive. And I know that the Cafe Rico is working on some partnerships with the local hospital system as an example to purchase coffee. So there’s a role there. My question for you or for each of you is what is one of the moments that’s brought you the most joy in interacting with people on your team and in creating the culture and work environment that you’ve been fostering?

Tristan Bredehoft (42:17)

I can go first. I really enjoy seeing my team members move on to what they really want to do in life. As a coffee shop, it’s like a stepping stone where an in-between, for the most part, it’s not normally a career choice. And so we always ask our teammates when they first get in, “What are your goals outside of work and how can we help you accomplish those?” Through the many years we’ve been in business, we’ve made multiple connections with different types of people, so we always try to plug them into those people. And so I really like seeing my team flourish and eventually leave.

Laura Owens (42:58)

I’ve really enjoyed supporting and watching Eunice and Raya make their vision happen. They’ve grown into just… I mean, they’ve always been amazing leaders, but really amazing managers and really cultivating a special place. So that’s been very fun for me.

Eunice Straight Head (43:20)

Just to respond to that question, for sure, it’s supporting small businesses. I know a lot of people are, “Well, I’m not native. Can I buy this?” Yes, you can. Especially if you are supporting an indigenous business and you know it’s from the reservation, you know where it’s coming from and we’re happy to share the story with you. We’re not going to… Unless we keep ceremonial knowledge, that’s completely appropriate, but we’re more than happy to share the story of the Star quilt, the story of the buffalo, the leather, everything that we do, there’s a purpose and a meaning behind it, and it’s something that you can carry on with you and you’re able to share our stories.And I think that’s the most important form of representation and support that we can get from our customers. Yeah. And we also have a quilt that Raya and I brought just to share. There’s a lot of hands that went into this. And one thing that I do want to mention is that everyone in this room does support communities, support people. Just like the star quilt. There are multiple hands that touch this quilt. It’s like Raya and I did the quilting. The team completely put the star quilt together and satin’s very hard to work with, believe it or not. But without all of them being able to be here and show you their work, this is the physical embodiment of the spirit and love that they put into Oyate Studio.And they come in everyday to create these. Right now we average about five quilts a day, and we’ve probably made about 300 plus in the past four or five months. So they go out. 3 Feathers came and trained the quilters and the seamstresses of how to make this. But just like businesses and resourcing and network and support, everyone has their hands in this star quilt. It’s more than just an artifact. It’s more than just what we do. It’s everyone here that’s able to support us. That’s the physical embodiment of our star quilts and being able to elevate and bring awareness and support cultural and traditional revitalization within our people. This is the people’s studio.

Speaker (45:25)

One of the problems I’ve always had with small businesses, how you deal with post… Otherwise, you work a job for a certain number of years and then you retire. And in other words, bigger companies provide post-retirement benefits like a pension, retiree health insurance and things like this. I often see small businesses really only using workers in the way you described your restaurant. You work here for a few years, you help the restaurant prosper, you make some money, and then you move on to something else. There’s really no long-term help for the people that actually worked for you. Or maybe some guy might’ve spent 20 years working there and leave and he doesn’t really have anything to take with him. So how do small businesses deal with that post-retirement issue?

Tristan Bredehoft (46:11)

That is one of the biggest hurdles. Yes. Now I think the way that we can counteract that is all these bigger corporations will charge you as much as they want. And I think small businesses just have to know what their worth is and start charging what the market is actually out there. For us, since we’re close with… Israel’s in our community, we see everybody so often. We get very personal with that connection. And so when we’re thinking about our business and raising prices or just doing things that are better for the business to succeed and even survive, we end up getting apprehensive about doing something that will help us bring in benefits for the long-term. So I think it’s just starting with knowing your worth and charging that.

Lauren Starks (47:07)

We have time for one more question. I’m sorry. I think-

Speaker (47:14)

[inaudible 00:47:12], used a term I’ve never heard before. What is smudging?

Eunice Straight Head (47:18)

Oh, you light sage and you cleanse and purify and pray with it. So that’s what we do. We pick it up locally. Sometimes in the summer we go as a team. Raya and I went with a couple of other coworkers and it was after work and we went to go harvesting. And you give back to the land and then you bring it. And we have it all over in our studio. So we’re able to smudge and cleanse ourselves and purify ourselves from outside of the studio and outside the building because we’re not at work. And you put your love and thoughts and good things into the work that you’re creating. It will reward you with something beautiful.

Lauren Starks (47:55)

Well, thank you all so much for the questions. This work matters. This work can be done and it’s more beautiful when we’re doing it together.

Learn More

About Shared Success

Good jobs and strong businesses are vital to the well-being of communities across the country. Yet millions of workers struggle with poor-quality jobs, and small business owners often struggle to find and retain the employees they need. Shared Success, a project of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP), shows how building better jobs can uplift both sides at the same time. Supported by a $12 million investment from the Gates Foundation, EOP partnered with 11 community lenders to integrate job quality programming into their small business support services, supporting the needs of employees while helping small businesses succeed.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program hosts a variety of discussions to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. To learn about upcoming events and webinars, join our mailing list and follow us on social media.

Transcript

Maureen Conway (00:04)

Welcome. My name is Maureen Conway. I’m a vice president here at The Aspen Institute and executive director of our Economic Opportunities Program. And it is my great pleasure to welcome you to today’s conversation, How Good Jobs Support Small Businesses: lessons from the Shared Success Demonstration. So we are here talking about this demonstration in 2022 with the generous support of the Gates Foundation. The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program launched the Shared Success Demonstration. This initiative supports 11 unique community development finance institutions, or CDFIs as we like to call them, and it supports them to integrate job quality supports into their support for their small business clients.The Shared Success CDFIs hail from across the country. They work in rural, urban, suburban areas. They work in a variety of industries, in childcare and manufacturing and construction and a whole host of different industries. And over the past three years, they’ve pursued strategies tailored to the specifics of their communities and of the businesses that they work with, but all towards a common goal, to improve the quality of jobs for workers and build stronger, more resilient businesses. Shared Success connects what we at The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program think of as two really crucial avenues of economic opportunity and avenues that too often run separately from each other.So the work supports small businesses and opportunities for entrepreneurship and supporting entrepreneurs and the work supports work to help people access good jobs. Shared Success tries to weave together both the good jobs work and the small business success work, creating a fabric of shared prosperity in the communities in which they operate. So why does this matter? It matters because of a vibrant economy, one that truly delivers on the promise of opportunity, it requires both a thriving small business sector and quality jobs. When people have access to good jobs, they can support their families, plan for the future, and contribute to their communities. And when small businesses can attract and retain skilled, motivated workers, they’re better positioned to innovate, grow, and serve as engines of local opportunity.Now we recognize that not everybody has the same idea. Most people have had jobs, most people have an idea of what’s a good job, but also we know, like what I think is a good job and what somebody else thinks is a good job might not exactly match up. So at the Economic Opportunities Program, we spend a lot of time thinking about, so what is a good job? We’ve done a lot of research on this. We’ve done a lot of focus groups with businesses, we’ve talked to business owners as well. And three things always seem to come up as components of a good job. So one is a concept of economic stability. So a good job should provide the wages and benefits and things people need to meet their daily needs, right? So it should help people have a basic sense of economic stability in their lives. It should provide some kind of opportunity.So this could be an opportunity to learn new skills and grow. This could be an opportunity to advance in a particular career path or it could just be the opportunity to build wealth and a nest egg that allows you the ability to plan for your future. And then the third thing is one that’s… It’s a little bit more intangible, but it’s no less important, which is this idea of respect. The idea that your work is valued, that you are treated fairly and with due consideration. That you have the ability to express your views on how work should be done and those views will be respected and taken into account. So those are the three things that come up in different forms and in different ways people might emphasize different aspects of it.And I’ll just say as a side note, and it may come up in our conversation today, when we encourage organizations to think about how they look to advance job quality, we encourage them to think about what are the aspects of job quality that are meaningful for the work that they do, and really to build a definition that helps them guide their work. So all of that is to say that’s how we think of what is a good job. And I think that encompasses a lot of things, but you may have other aspects that you think should be front and center and that’s great. Many definitions can be okay in this case. The other thing I wanted to mention about these three things is economic stability, opportunity and respect, they’re not luxuries, right?These are the basics. These are the cornerstone of the American dream, right? If we’re in a country that respects work and hard work is supposed to get your reward, then these are the kinds of things we need to see in work and in workplaces. Yet far too many people in our country lack these things. And I often say we’re facing a job quality crisis. Now there’s a lot of dimensions to job qualities I mentioned, and many of them we don’t have very good data on, but we do have good data on wages. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, more than 26 million people in the United States earn less than $17 an hour. So that’s really not a livable wage in most parts of the country, and that just makes it really challenging to do a good job, right?I often say if you want people to do a good job, they need to have a good job. And many of these workers who earn these low wages we know are employed by small businesses. But the good news is we don’t have to think about small businesses as the problem because really they can be part of the solution. And that’s what we’ve been learning in Shared Success. We’ve seen that small businesses really can make meaningful differences in the quality of jobs that they offer to their workers. We’ve seen that when they do, it’s not only good for their workers, but it also can strengthen their business. And we’ve seen that the community development finance institutions that we’ve been working with through their services really can make a meaningful difference in how businesses make choices and operationalize job quality in their business.So today we’re really excited to share what we’ve learned on this journey, what’s worked, what’s been challenging and what’s possible. And so we’re just thrilled to have you all with us for this conversation. Before I launch into our next panel and everything, I will just note, so first of all, today’s conversation is divided into two panels. And I’ll welcome our first panel in just a minute, but we’re also joined by many people virtually. So I want to spend a moment going over our technical details here. So I will just note that all of the virtual attendees are muted, but we welcome your questions. Please use the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen. Someone will be monitoring questions and can hopefully share them with us here. We also encourage you to share your perspective.I know many of you joining us online as well as folks in the room have experience with these issues. So please share your comments, ideas, resources in the chat as we go along. We always appreciate your feedback. Please take a quick moment to respond to our feedback survey at the end of the webinar. It should pop up in your browser. We encourage you to post about this conversation. You can also do that in the room, although silence your phone, our hashtag is talkopportunity. And if you have any technical issues, please contact us. You can either put something in the chat or contact us at [email protected]. This event is being recorded and will be shared via email, posted on our website and closed captions are available for this discussion, so please click the CC button at the bottom of your screen to activate them if you would like.Okay. Now that we’re done with that. It is my great pleasure to welcome our first panel for today’s conversation, examples of how small businesses and CDFIs are working together to advance job quality. My colleague Lauren Starks, Director of the Good Companies/Good Jobs Initiative at the Economic Opportunities Program will moderate our discussion today. And joining Lauren is Eunice Straight Head, Co-Director at Oyate Studio based on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Laura Owens, Chief of Staff at VChief and Consultant for Four Bands Community Fund in South Dakota. Tristan Bredehoft, Co-Owner and Founder of Cafe Rica in Battle Creek, Michigan, and Israel Flores, Director of Business Services at Northern Initiatives in Michigan. So Lauren, let me turn it over to you.

Lauren Starks (09:36)

Thanks so much, Maureen, and thank you to everyone joining us today. I echo that over the past three years, EOP has worked closely with our Shared Success cohort. We have learned so much about how CDFIs across America are integrating job quality support into their small business services with the goal of improving job quality for small business employees and building greater resilience. This is such an important time for this work, as we all know. And one of the inspirations behind this project is that it’s brought us insights about purpose, but also about possibilities. We have learned about why job quality matters to small businesses, but also very importantly, how it can be done, how it’s possible. So in this first panel, we’re going to explore the value that small business owners see in investing in job quality and learn more about their experiences partnering with CDFIs to move that work forward.We’re also going to explore how CDFIs are supporting small businesses and learn more about how CDFIs writ large could build a focus on job quality into their advising work. So I’m really happy to be here today with four phenomenal panelists. We have two small business owners with us, alongside an expert they are partnering with at two CDFIs that are in our Shared Success demonstration. I’d like to start the conversation by asking each of you to introduce yourself and your organization’s work. So we’ll start with you, Eunice. Welcome. It’s a privilege to have you here with us as co-director of Oyate Studio. Oyate has such a powerful mission of improving the lives of women and their families on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Can you tell us more about that mission and about your role as co-director?

Eunice Straight Head (11:42)

[foreign language 00:11:29]. Hi, everyone. My name is Eunice Straight Head. I am the co-director of Oyate Studio. I’m Mnicoujou Lakota from the Cheyenne River Reservation, and I’m also the 2024/2025 Miss He Sapa Win. I am here to represent the Cheyenne River Reservation and also Oyate Studio. Oyate Studio is basically based on cultural revitalization through the arts, traditional and contemporary, without the professional development and help of four bands and also everything that we do there. We provide a place of community, we create star quilts, leather belts, leather work. Like what I’m wearing today is very similar to it. Yeah, I would definitely go into more depth, but we do have a website and Instagram. We just do a lot of different things, but I’m really happy to be here and see everyone. It’s an honor to be here. It’s my second time in Washington, DC and it’s very welcoming.

Lauren Starks (12:39)

Thank you so much, Eunice. Laura, welcome. Thanks for being with us. Four Bands has been a participant in the Shared Success demonstration for two years. I know that you’re not technically part of the Four Bands staff, but I understand that you’ve had a big role in their journey so far. I think it’s really interesting how you’re bringing a lens of nonprofit technical assistance, and also you’ve had a strong focus on building capacity in rural communities. Can you tell us about how you’ve been partnering with Four Bands and Oyate?

Laura Owens (13:11)

Sure. Hi, my name is Laura Owens and I am an independent consultant who’s worked mostly with nonprofits. I’ve partnered with Four Bands for about four years now, and I’ve worked with the Oyate Studio for about two years now. So I have worked… Four Bands is in a really rural community, and so the ability to provide technical assistance to a startup business that’s just started can be a challenge. So I partner with them and partner with Eunice to really… We’ve worked deeply around HR, technical assistance, building organizational culture. And I’m really someone who they can tap into to help the Oyate Studio be the place that it is. So I am thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me.

Lauren Starks (13:58)

Thank you. Hello, Tristan. Great to have you from Battle Creek, Michigan. Tristan, I know you have a background in the restaurant industry and that has really shaped your journey. It’s helped inform what you know you want to be as a business owner, and it’s part of the story of how you started Cafe Rica with your brother Jackson. Could you tell us more about what led you to founding Cafe Rica and put you on the path to working with Northern Initiatives?

Tristan Bredehoft (14:29)

So hello, good afternoon. Thank you for having me on this panel today. My name is Tristan Bredehoft, the co-founder of Cafe Rica and Battle Creek. We really are just a place of community. We wanted to build a community. My background is in restaurants. I started about a decade ago working at a Michigan State bar and I just saw a lot of toxicity, a lot of bad behavior that was created in that environment and that really made me want to change the way that I came as a business owner. And so that’s why I wanted to be a leader in the change.

Lauren Starks (15:09)

Thank you, Tristan. And Israel, welcome. We have gotten a chance to know you over the last three years of Shared Success. You’ve been deeply involved and we’ve talked a lot together about how you’ve worked with small business owners like Tristan and others across Michigan to make sure they have the tools and the awareness to implement effective job quality strategies. Could you tell us more about your role as Business Services Director at Northern Initiatives and your involvement in the demonstration?

Israel Flores (15:39)

Absolutely. Hi, my name is Israel Flores. I am the Business Services Director for Northern Initiatives. I am also based in Battle Creek, Michigan. So actually my office is a few buildings down. So you can imagine having good coffee, it’s fantastic every morning. And a good place to be. So my role as a business services director, I am responsible to provide technical assistance to all our customers through my team. So we are again, a community development financial institution. We provide technical assistance to all our customers and be part of this success story though, I mean, Shared Success demonstration. It was actually fantastic to be part of this, not just because of the demonstration and the opportunities, but also being in a room full of people who we try to achieve the same goals.I think that was absolutely the greatest opportunity that we as an organization had, and we really appreciate that of course. So and again, being part of this success demonstration, it is really important for us to continue doing this work for the job quality as many people… I think Maureen was saying this earlier, right? What is a good job look to you? I can tell you, we can get a million different answers and we’re here to explore those answers and make sure that people are happy and also they have a good quality of life later on. And we’re going to provide support for small businesses owners.

Lauren Starks (17:12)

That is the perfect transition and we’re really lucky to have such expertise here with us to help tell that story and really explain why making good jobs a priority is not only good for workers, but it’s good for businesses and it’s good for communities. So we’re going to shift now to diving deeper. We’re going to transition a bit to hearing about why small business owners and the CDFIs that are supporting them should care about job quality and then double click on some of the strategies that CDFIs are using to support that work. So Eunice, I want to start with you and get some perspective on why job quality is so important to the mission of Oyate Studio and also just here, how have you and Four Bands been partnering to create quality jobs?

Eunice Straight Head (18:02)

Well, right now it’s a lot of professional development. There’s not a lot of opportunities for artists because right now they’re primarily artists. A lot of them didn’t know how to sew and they came in and were able to understand what’s the process behind professional development, the responsibility behind it, accountability, being able to reach that sort of… It’s a learning experience for me as well. Four Bands has taught me a lot of the foundations of what I need to do, how I can apply myself in the best way possible other than just showing up. There’s a lot more to it. So they were able to provide me role models in a way because I see them as aunties, they’re co-directors but I grew up with them.Me and Raya are both co-directors. We both grew up on the reservation, we both came back, got our degrees. Right now I’m in my master’s program and being able to look up to these women that they’re able to give back to their communities as a nonprofit, as a CDFI, they really look out for us and they’re able to be hard on me and Raya and be able to teach us all of these really important skills to have. Yeah, it’s really great. The partnership that we have with them, I can’t imagine anyone else that can understand us from where we come from and what we do.

Lauren Starks (19:22)

That’s so powerful. And building the foundation and getting the supports around you to do the work is so critical. Laura, we’ve heard how important it is for small businesses, especially in rural areas, to have a network of providers that help them navigate the challenges of advancing quality jobs. And given your experience, your background, your deep work, I would love to hear how you’ve partnered with Oyate in particular to advance those goals.

Laura Owens (19:48)

Absolutely. And before I get into that, I just wanted to shout out Raya, who’s sitting over there, who’s the co-director of Oyate Studio with Eunice. Yeah, so in a rural community, it can be challenging to access all the skills needed for a startup business. And so Four Bands has really built this vast network of people with expertise. I’m one of them who can work with their clients to really build capacity and technical assistance. And so I was partnered up with Raya and Eunice and it’s a virtual relationship. I don’t live in South Dakota. And it worked really well because like Eunice just said, she and Raya are young, they’re from the community.They came back to invest and build their community and they have all of that amazing vision and knowledge. But they didn’t have a lot of experience starting a business, building organizational culture, managing staff, putting into place policies and procedures that make a small business more efficient and effective to run. And so that’s really how we have partnered virtually every week. And one other statistic I’ll just say is that on the Cheyenne River, there’s something called a dependency rating. So it means that… It’s kind of measuring the people in the community that are dependent on the people in the job force.So where the Oyate studio is located, it’s a 92% dependency rating. And so that means that 92% of the population is dependent on the 8% of the workforce that’s working. And so I just only raise that to just show the… And that’s because the community is really a lot of elders and young people. And so I just kind of raise that to show, in addition to being rural, some of the reasons why Four Bands has this kind of vast network of resources that are building capacity to the people there.

Lauren Starks (22:04)

And building capacity is building communities and building strength. That’s so helpful to know, Laura. Thank you. Tristan and Israel, I want to hear from you on the same question here. Reasons that you believed it was important to focus on job quality. Tristan, as a small business owner, you shared your background in the restaurant industry. If you could share more, that would be great.

Tristan Bredehoft (22:29)

Yeah, absolutely. So when I started in the restaurant industry 10 years ago, I was very, very green, zero experience at all. So I didn’t know any of the norms that came with the restaurant industry. So when I jumped in, I started seeing things like… Well, one in Michigan, the tipped wage is $3. And so it really creates this financial scarcity. For me, myself when I was there, I was like, “Oh, man, I need to get paid. I need to make money. I need to make rent.” And as a college student, that’s a huge part of my life. And so it made me do things like steal from the business to actually get more tips from the people that really employed me, the customers. And so I just didn’t like that.And then I also saw things like sexual harassment on a day-to-day basis, and it was even encouraged by the management staff. So that was another reason I just was very… I didn’t like the restaurant industry. And then that really transitioned to me when I started to look at building a business. I vowed to myself that I would never want any of my employees to feel that way. I didn’t want them to feel like they didn’t know where their next paycheck was coming, that they had to do things that were against store policy. I didn’t want them to feel unsafe and I wanted them to feel heard and seen. So that was the three main reasons why I decided I wanted to be a good employer.

Lauren Starks (23:58)

And just to carry on, can you tell us more about your work with Good for Michigan and the path that led you to Northern Initiatives?

Tristan Bredehoft (24:08)

Yeah, so because that was the mission that we led with, we led with Compassion. Israel noticed that. He saw what we were doing for the restaurant industry, what we were doing to be a good job. And so he approached us and was like, “Hey, here’s some extra training, some extra resources that could help you move that mission forward.” And so then we got connected with the Good for Michigan team and went through a cohort and it really opened up what is possible to be a good job. It’s not just about pay, it’s not just about PTO, it’s about respect, being good for the community, being good for the environment. And so that actually led us to winning the Good for Michigan Governance Award where we are the top business in those three categories, community, sustainability and employer. And that actually led us to our next goal, which is wanting to be B Corp certified. And so we’re trying to get that done by the end of 2025.

Lauren Starks (25:13)

You all talk about it with such ease, but I think we all know that we’re not in this work because it’s easy and we know there are challenges. It’s not a straight line and there are a lot of folks that you need to have around you to help you reach those next levels. And so hearing that journey, we know that wasn’t easy, so that’s fantastic. Speaking of these challenges and lessons learned along the way, I want to pivot to thinking with you about how has… Particularly you Eunice, Four Bands have been a part of the process of overcoming challenges in the process of advancing quality jobs at Oyate?

Eunice Straight Head (25:51)

Like Laura said, the dependency rates. Livable wage is something that Raya and I are very aware of and what we’re trying to get to, which is like $20 an hour in the survey of the State of South Dakota. Right now, we pay our employees about $15 an hour and the lowest paying job in Taco John’s, for example, one of those places is $11.50 an hour, and some of them have to go home and provide for five families in their household. Right now, I had to come back and live with my mom, even though I got my bachelor’s, got my master’s, came back, and worked a full-time job.I do live with my mom because of our housing, we don’t have a lot of places to come back and live, so that’s hard on us too. But we see every single challenge, every single month is always something different. It was my first time writing a policy with Laura here and it was something different. It was something that I have never had to think about until now, especially when you’re starting up from the ground up. Having these foundational parts of this business is really helping us create a good work environment, which is not really a lot on the reservation, but I’m super thankful for every challenge that comes my way because every single one is a lesson and we face it with a positive mindset every single time.

Lauren Starks (27:20)

The learning mindset, right? And the teachable moments. I’m the daughter of a second grade teacher, so I always figure out a way to weave in the teaching angle. Tristan, what strategies have you used to face challenges that have come up along that path to B Corp certification?

Tristan Bredehoft (27:37)

Yeah. Like Eunice said, the main focus you have is livable wage, but I learned quickly that that’s not the only way to make people feel secure. So we used what we’ve learned from NI and Good for Michigan as a way to understand flexible scheduling, understanding that the employees really want to be heard and seen. And so we changed the way that we manage. We are managing with a let’s talk to our team first instead of just doing a command and directive kind of way. So we really brought them into all those things and it really has created a good environment for people to learn and grow and exceed. We’ve had art shows where our employees are the leading artists. We’ve had them create new menu items, so we really just get them all involved so that we can get over those hurdles.

Lauren Starks (28:32)

I want to pause on that for a moment because you said something that’s so important to the work that we’ve done and what we’ve learned in Shared Success is this aspect of worker voice and bringing that into the work and really letting that inform and help you build priorities to create and build and advance higher quality jobs. And I’ll put this to others on the panel who want to respond as well, but could you say more about that aspect of your work? How did you do that? How did you bring worker voice into this work and what did that do for you?

Tristan Bredehoft (29:06)

So we just started by just having non-formal talkings, like hey… They’re little huddles we call them. Like, Hey, what’s going on? What’s working well, what’s not? And just paying attention and hearing and just asking the question to start. That’s how we started. And then as we start building policies and core values, we really learn to bring them in and so that again, they have that voice, they have the way to move the business to a place that they also want to see it in.

Israel Flores (29:35)

Sorry, I just want to say that I think you say a key word, policy. So you need to have those things in place, right? Even if you’re in a restaurant. I think it’s a small business. I think it’s one of those things right now that because you are a small business, you don’t think that you need an employment handbook, for example, that you don’t need a job description. Absolutely right. So you need to have those in place in order to make sure that everybody follows the policy and the rules and the place to become a really good work environment, which is what they create. Last night we had this conversation with Tristan, right? They have to make a really hard decision to… They need to let somebody go for not following the policy. Again, this is the rules that they implement and that’s job quality. It was hard. It’s not an easy decision, but you have to follow those because it’s what you want to create that environment for job quality for your employees.

Eunice Straight Head (30:37)

Just to follow up on the flexibility part, there are moments where our employees can’t really make it to work. Staying in South Dakota, we don’t really have the luxury of driving or walking just right to our work. Sometimes just to get across to get to the nearest Walmart is like two hours away. So our cars is a big part of us. Sometimes our employees cannot make it. So Raya and I take it out of our day and make sure we go pick them up. Whenever women are crafting traditionally in Lakota culture is like we join as a group and we do it together. We share laughs, we share everything. So having that culture implemented and how these women are contributing to their community means a lot.So just after graduation season, we were able to make eight custom CEBs for our local high school where Raya and I graduated, and some of their students are graduating because they’re all predominantly mothers. They’re all mothers, sometimes they’re gone from work at times they have to take off. So that’s really hard, but we always make sure to accommodate them because we understand the cultural significance of what comes to preparing a graduate, especially since it’s such a small percentage of indigenous graduates. So we just want to make sure that we’re contributing to not only our generation, but the next generation.

Laura Owens (31:46)

And I would just add one other thing. Oyate Studio means the People’s Studio, and I think that Eunice and Raya have done a really beautiful job at setting a vision for what that means. There’s a manufacturing component to it where they’re making star quilts. There’s also a co-working artisan space that I think is really motivating to workers. So as Eunice said, 100% of the staff are women. They are mostly the primary breadwinners and caretakers of their families. And they’ve created a really motivating and safe inclusive environment at Oyate Studio and also built in a lot of Lakota traditional values such as… I don’t know, Eunice, if you want to say how you start off your day every day. I think this is actually pretty cool, but I think one of the reasons is it’s a high-quality job and it’s really impacting the community. It’s known as a place that has good jobs, but also a fun place for artists where you can come and create… Try out whatever you’re doing. But I’ll just let Eunice say how they start their day because this is cool.

Eunice Straight Head (33:03)

Oh, yeah. Before, we wait for everyone to come inside and we smudge together. We smudge together to cleanse ourselves, let go of everything that’s outside of these walls and we come into the studio not only to work, but just be together. So every single hand and everything that touches the star quilt, these women and workers and us have a part in it, whether it’s actually physically making the quilts or it’s me and Raya doing QuickBooks for the first time.

Lauren Starks (33:37)

And there’s something so powerful with the image of all of us putting our hands on this work and creating something that’s stronger together and really is about our Shared Success. So before we take questions from our audience, I want to give a moment for each of you to share a closing thought, and this is the aha moment. Was there something that along the way you’ve realized has been key to effectiveness in this space? And I’m going to start with you, Israel, and then we’ll work our way this way.

Israel Flores (34:09)

Sure. Well, I think an aha moment but also, I think what ‘s important is to recognize all the job… Actually all the work that has been done, for example, and I just put it right here next to me, Tristan, right? And Cafe Rica, we as an NI… Me as a person I will not take credit for any of that. At the end of the day, they are the ones who are making those decisions and making those changes. I think our responsibility as an organization is to provide that support so they can have the tools, the resources and everything else to be successful. I think they will be the small businesses, they will be creating and helping the economy, local economy where believe it not, I think if you have a better wage, you will be living better.You will spend more dollars locally. Also, people who know that they are doing that job, of course I will want to spend my dollars in that business, right? But also if you think about it, it’s also healthy, right? I mean, because you are living with less stress when you are in a good environment. Again, I certainly hope that one day, if you are in Battle Creek, please go and visit Cafe Rica. It’s a whole different environment. It’s one of those places that if you go to a Starbucks or any other coffee place, you will see people who are so serious, all the workers. You walk into Cafe Rica, you’ll hear people, employees singing, laughing, talking about it, creating this environment where you’re having a meeting, an important meeting, right? And by having all of that around you, it makes your meetings more productive, but you’re feeling good and of course feeling good as community members love to be there and also you see the employees really happy.

Tristan Bredehoft (35:58)

One of the aha moments, I think it came right before Northern Initiatives linked us up with Good for Michigan. But while pay is great, it’s not everything that makes it a good job. And I was having a meeting with a former employee that I was like, “Hey, I want you to stay. Here’s more money.” And they still chose to leave. And then when I started going through the Good for Michigan cohort, I understood all these vast different things that a business can do to make it a good job. Now, at first I was a little daunting. I was like, whoa, there’s so much to do. But then it clicked in me. I was like, there’s so much to do. I can start anywhere, start small and just work my way up. As long as the goal is to get better. It’s all about the progress. It’s not about what’s ahead of me.

Laura Owens (36:51)

I think for me, the aha moment with Oyate Studio was really around flexibility. As I mentioned, our workforce is mostly 100% women, and we were having trouble giving schedules, doing a consistent eight hour shift. And so what we ultimately are still continuing to work on is the women can go home after school to care for children. We’re very flexible. They can go back in the evenings if they have availability or on the weekends. And I think really just meeting people where they are and understanding that it is a community, and that this is a place that is providing consistent, really special jobs, but that we really need to meet people where they are.If someone isn’t showing up for work, it’s not because they’re sleeping in, it’s because maybe their car broke and that is going to take a two-hour drive to go fix it, several days for the car to get fixed, several days for it to come back. That happened to an employee recently who hit a deer, and so that employee is out and now their person on the line isn’t there for making the quilts. So we just had to be more flexible and also develop a bench of artisans that we can call in to, who might not be there every day, but are willing to come in if we need extra staffing. So flexibility and meeting people where they are.

Eunice Straight Head (38:29)

Definitely making it work where we can. We don’t have… Can you guys hear me okay? Yeah. We’re really good at making do with what we have. If there’s one mindset that Rya and I go in with our leadership and Four Bands is that we make it work with what we can. We rely on our community, we rely on other people. Our small business, we had to get used to a new POS system inventory, and what we did is we went to go visit other businesses and what they used, especially locally, that’s what we try to do our best on. But my aha moment would definitely be when we had our partnership with 3 Feathers, when we had our partnership with Four Bands, just seeing the resources of people and their knowledge and skills and what they can provide for what this can grow into. We are just a seed and a little sprout right now, but we are hoping to become something bigger and that is giving back to our community next generations. My dream and Raya’s dream is to have our own studio where we’re able to give scholarships to native students and just grow bigger than the space… We already outgrew our space with how many employees we have right there, right now. And just the support is the aha moment for me.

Lauren Starks (39:48)

Thank all of you for such an inspiring conversation. You’ve left us with such a moment. This is possible. We’re going to take a couple of questions from our audience now, and we have team members throughout the room who have microphones. Raise your hand if you have a question and we also have our audience online submitting questions.

Laura Flamm (40:13)

Good afternoon. My name’s Laura Flamm and I’m with Kaiser Permanente’s Impact Spending department. My question is, what role would you like to see large institutions, especially anchor institutions like hospitals, healthcare systems, universities, play in advancing this work? Thank you.

Israel Flores (40:38)

Well, I mean, again, so we are looking at this demonstration: how important is your quality? Of course we would love for them to be part of that. Again, creating those opportunities not just to create better pay as we were talking about, but also the environment. I think many places, though you will see that, that it’s going to be toxic places. Again, we’re talking about these small businesses, but for bigger organizations and companies, yeah, we would love to see that. Again, to be honest with you, I would love to see bigger corporations sharing their profits, having a living wage or better wages for their employees because they don’t need all those billions of dollars in their pockets. They can easily share those with all the people, and I’m telling you, we will be a better place.

Speaker (41:37)

I just wanted to respond to your question real quickly and then I have one for you. I think one of the things that large institutions can do is purchase from small businesses that are embodying these kinds of values to help these entities grow and thrive. And I know that the Cafe Rico is working on some partnerships with the local hospital system as an example to purchase coffee. So there’s a role there. My question for you or for each of you is what is one of the moments that’s brought you the most joy in interacting with people on your team and in creating the culture and work environment that you’ve been fostering?

Tristan Bredehoft (42:17)

I can go first. I really enjoy seeing my team members move on to what they really want to do in life. As a coffee shop, it’s like a stepping stone where an in-between, for the most part, it’s not normally a career choice. And so we always ask our teammates when they first get in, “What are your goals outside of work and how can we help you accomplish those?” Through the many years we’ve been in business, we’ve made multiple connections with different types of people, so we always try to plug them into those people. And so I really like seeing my team flourish and eventually leave.

Laura Owens (42:58)

I’ve really enjoyed supporting and watching Eunice and Raya make their vision happen. They’ve grown into just… I mean, they’ve always been amazing leaders, but really amazing managers and really cultivating a special place. So that’s been very fun for me.

Eunice Straight Head (43:20)

Just to respond to that question, for sure, it’s supporting small businesses. I know a lot of people are, “Well, I’m not native. Can I buy this?” Yes, you can. Especially if you are supporting an indigenous business and you know it’s from the reservation, you know where it’s coming from and we’re happy to share the story with you. We’re not going to… Unless we keep ceremonial knowledge, that’s completely appropriate, but we’re more than happy to share the story of the Star quilt, the story of the buffalo, the leather, everything that we do, there’s a purpose and a meaning behind it, and it’s something that you can carry on with you and you’re able to share our stories.And I think that’s the most important form of representation and support that we can get from our customers. Yeah. And we also have a quilt that Raya and I brought just to share. There’s a lot of hands that went into this. And one thing that I do want to mention is that everyone in this room does support communities, support people. Just like the star quilt. There are multiple hands that touch this quilt. It’s like Raya and I did the quilting. The team completely put the star quilt together and satin’s very hard to work with, believe it or not. But without all of them being able to be here and show you their work, this is the physical embodiment of the spirit and love that they put into Oyate Studio.And they come in everyday to create these. Right now we average about five quilts a day, and we’ve probably made about 300 plus in the past four or five months. So they go out. 3 Feathers came and trained the quilters and the seamstresses of how to make this. But just like businesses and resourcing and network and support, everyone has their hands in this star quilt. It’s more than just an artifact. It’s more than just what we do. It’s everyone here that’s able to support us. That’s the physical embodiment of our star quilts and being able to elevate and bring awareness and support cultural and traditional revitalization within our people. This is the people’s studio.

Speaker (45:25)

One of the problems I’ve always had with small businesses, how you deal with post… Otherwise, you work a job for a certain number of years and then you retire. And in other words, bigger companies provide post-retirement benefits like a pension, retiree health insurance and things like this. I often see small businesses really only using workers in the way you described your restaurant. You work here for a few years, you help the restaurant prosper, you make some money, and then you move on to something else. There’s really no long-term help for the people that actually worked for you. Or maybe some guy might’ve spent 20 years working there and leave and he doesn’t really have anything to take with him. So how do small businesses deal with that post-retirement issue?

Tristan Bredehoft (46:11)

That is one of the biggest hurdles. Yes. Now I think the way that we can counteract that is all these bigger corporations will charge you as much as they want. And I think small businesses just have to know what their worth is and start charging what the market is actually out there. For us, since we’re close with… Israel’s in our community, we see everybody so often. We get very personal with that connection. And so when we’re thinking about our business and raising prices or just doing things that are better for the business to succeed and even survive, we end up getting apprehensive about doing something that will help us bring in benefits for the long-term. So I think it’s just starting with knowing your worth and charging that.

Lauren Starks (47:07)

We have time for one more question. I’m sorry. I think-

Speaker (47:14)

[inaudible 00:47:12], used a term I’ve never heard before. What is smudging?

Eunice Straight Head (47:18)

Oh, you light sage and you cleanse and purify and pray with it. So that’s what we do. We pick it up locally. Sometimes in the summer we go as a team. Raya and I went with a couple of other coworkers and it was after work and we went to go harvesting. And you give back to the land and then you bring it. And we have it all over in our studio. So we’re able to smudge and cleanse ourselves and purify ourselves from outside of the studio and outside the building because we’re not at work. And you put your love and thoughts and good things into the work that you’re creating. It will reward you with something beautiful.

Lauren Starks (47:55)

Well, thank you all so much for the questions. This work matters. This work can be done and it’s more beautiful when we’re doing it together.

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About Shared Success

Good jobs and strong businesses are vital to the well-being of communities across the country. Yet millions of workers struggle with poor-quality jobs, and small business owners often struggle to find and retain the employees they need. Shared Success, a project of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (EOP), shows how building better jobs can uplift both sides at the same time. Supported by a $12 million investment from the Gates Foundation, EOP partnered with 11 community lenders to integrate job quality programming into their small business support services, supporting the needs of employees while helping small businesses succeed.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program hosts a variety of discussions to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy. To learn about upcoming events and webinars, join our mailing list and follow us on social media.