Giving Compass' Take:
- Erik Speakman shares how driving for Uber and hearing the struggles of Uber riders from working families shaped his perspective on the nonprofit sector's need to build public trust.
- What can funders do to support nonprofits in creating coordinated communications about constrained economic opportunity for working families?
- Ask a custom question to find other articles and resources focused on public trust, economic opportunity, and the nonprofit sector.
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For most of my career, I have helped nonprofits move families from crisis to stability to success. More recently, for reasons beyond my control, I found myself doing what many nonprofits are doing now: finding another way to make the numbers work. I began driving for Uber from 5 to 9 a.m.
What I expected was a side-hustle. Instead, I found a rolling focus group on the economy, institutional trust and low-wage work. My riders included home health aides, warehouse workers, airport employees and caregivers juggling work, family and fragile finances.
The pattern was clear. Many working families are doing everything asked of them and still cannot get ahead. Most are employed and resilient, but transportation, housing, wages, child care, health care and public trust are not supporting them in reaching their definition of self-sufficiency.
The Economy Looks Different From the Back Seat
From Atlanta, just south of I-20, my riders often seem to live in two economies. Some are affluent travelers moving between homes, hotels, restaurants and the airport. Others are low-wage workers in a K-shaped economy, where those with assets rise while those with fewer resources absorb more instability.
Many are ALICE households: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. They earn above the poverty line but not enough to cover basic local costs.
Transportation makes this visible. I have met riders spending more than $300 a week on Uber to reach jobs paying less than $20 an hour. They are not buying convenience; they are buying access to work, let alone being able to move toward their definition of success.
Listening as Infrastructure
One lesson surprised me: people want to talk. The car became a place where riders shared frustrations they did not expect anyone in power to hear — cut shifts, unpaid bills, family obligations and a sense that no one has their back, including business, government, politicians and sometimes nonprofits.
Read the full article about Uber riders' link to the nonprofit sector by Erik Speakman at SaportaReport.