The Time is Now. The Website is Here.
On February 4, 2022 MR and the Manufacturing Renaissance Campaign Coalition officially launched their new website dedicated to showcase the advancement of national manufacturing industry legislation, progressive policies and programming, and a call for significant investment in advanced skills training and education. Over 60 guests tuned-in as members of the coalition and featured speakers shared their perspectives and testimony in support of the Manufacturing Reinvestment Corporation Act–HR 5124, and the coalition’s work. The 45-minute virtual event (recording here) included an update on bill’s status in Congress, and remarks from a labor representative, a manufacturer, leaders from the HBCU and African American leadership community, educators, and others in the manufacturing eco-system from around the world. The coalition plans to use the new website as a tool to inform, educate and advocate for the passage of bills like HR5124 that call for billions in investments and a bottom-up, community stakeholder approach to determining how resources should be assigned if HR5124, or bills with similar language are voted into law.
The Manufacturing Renaissance Campaign (MRC) is a national policy advocacy coalition including labor, education, workforce, industry, environmental activists, and a wide array of community organizations advocating for progressive ideas. This dynamic group has been working for nearly a year to help pass federal legislation that would bring billions of dollars of investments in manufacturing career training and jobs, diverse company ownership, community planning grants, tech and environmental investments, and many other assets directly to communities across the country. Explore the website here: www.mrcampaign.net.
Why This Matters
Anyone who cares about climate change, democracy, economic justice, and sustainability needs to incorporate a new economic vision into their thinking and policy advocacy. Our coalition believes we need a distinctive industrial policy: a Manufacturing Renaissance in addition to a Green New Deal (GND). We will not have a sustainable society without a strong manufacturing foundation. Manufacturing is the only economic sector that can generate new wealth to communities currently shut out of access. Advanced manufacturing can build a broad-based working class with much higher incomes, creates social capital at work, provides a decent standard of living, and is an engine for job growth.
The HR 5124 bill introduced by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky [D-IL9], speaks directly to this issue. The bill calls for massive investment throughout the US manufacturing ecosystem and addresses the inadequacy of many of our public schools (a result of decades of underfunding) along with prohibitive costs of post-secondary education and advanced technical skills training. HR 5124 will foster a diverse workforce with the advanced skills and knowledge to design, manufacture, build and maintain new energy systems and their components and the lighter eco-footprint production and transportation systems of the future. The bill creates the opportunity for dramatic increases in the number of companies owned by their employees and by Black and Latino entrepreneurs by funding programs and policies that lead to greater inclusion of workers, women, and people of color in all aspects of manufacturing, particularly in ownership. Co-sponsors include Ro Khanna [D-CA17], Michael Doyle [D-PA18], Danny Davis[D-IL7], Marie Newman [D-IL3], Tim Ryan [D-OH13], and Brendan Boyle [D-PA2].
Coalition Members
Dan Swinney, Manufacturing Renaissance www.mfgren.org
David Robinson, Manufacturing Renaissance, www.mfgren.org
Alan Minsky, Progressive Democrats of America, https://pdamerica.org/
Bob Creamer, Democracy Partners, https://democracypartners.com/
Andy Stettner, The Century Foundation, https://tcf.org/
Teresa Cordova, Great Cities Institute, University of IL, https://greatcities.uic.edu/
Michael Bennett, African American Policy and Leadership Institute https://theaalpi.org/
Tim Wright, Quintairos, Prieto Wood & Boyer, https://www.qpwblaw.com/
Thomas Hanna, Democracy Collaborative, https://democracycollaborative.org/
Carl Davidson, Manufacturing Renaissance Campaign
Michelle Burris, The Century Foundation, www.tch.org