Living on the Edge

Most people love the idea of a promotion or raise at work. But not everyone accepts one.

“Some employers may have employees saying no to promotions, and they don’t know why. It’s an invisible issue — they’re asking, ‘why wouldn’t you want more money?’” said Kristen Joyce, Bridge to Prosperity program director at Springfield WORKS.

Many, she explained, are running into something called the cliff effect, a common situation in which a low-income earner who’s accessing public benefits gets a pay bump that negates those benefits and leaves them bringing home less money than before. “They would actually be worse off, and you have to make a rational decision not to take the promotion when you feel that your family is going to be worse off.”

Enter Bridge to Prosperity, the pilot program Joyce oversees. “It’s been a long time coming, and we’ve been working with many partners in Western Mass. on this,” she told BusinessWest. “The cliff effect is really holding folks back and keeping them from moving up. We’ve heard from employers that it’s an issue for them too, when they can’t promote their workers.”

For the past several years, Springfield WORKS, a collaborative affiliated with the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, has been working on ways to navigate the cliff effect, and one key tool has been Bridge to Prosperity, a statewide pilot program that launched in February with 18 participants. It was initially funded with $1 million in seed money from ARPA, announced in 2022, a figure that eventually grew to $2.6 million in public and private funds.

“Some employers may have employees saying no to promotions, and they don’t know why. It’s an invisible issue — they’re asking, ‘why wouldn’t you want more money?’”

Seven of the initial 18 participants are in the Springfield area; the others are in Boston and Worcester. The program provides direct payments to workers facing the cliff effect, aimed at bridging the gap and making up for the value of lost benefits. Participants also receive financial and career coaching and connections to community resources as needed, and will be eligible for a $10,000 asset-building bonus at the end of the two-year program.

“The goal is to serve up to 100 people by the end of the year,” Joyce said. “We’re actively fundraising and building out our employer partnerships in Boston and Worcester as well. It’s definitely an economic development issue, and employees being at the table is really key.”

At the heart of the initiative is the idea that rigid safety net policies often discourage economic advancement, and Bridge to Prosperity addresses this challenge in myriad ways.

Kristen Joyce says Bridges to Prosperity Aims to expand to 100 participants this year, in an expanded range of careers.

“A few months ago, this all felt out of reach,” one of the Springfield pilot participants said. “Now, with support from the Bridge to Prosperity pilot, I’m not just dreaming of becoming a nurse; I’m taking real steps toward it and toward building a stable future for my son.”

Multi-layered Support

Joyce broke down the four key elements of Bridge to Prosperity for BusinessWest.

First, participants receive either $300, $500, or $700 per month to bridge the gap in lost benefits. Essentially, as wage increases result in a loss of assistance supports (like housing, childcare, and food) but are not enough to cover those expenses, the pilot will provide targeted cash assistance payments to bridge the gap.

Next, the pilot offers career coaching, financial management coaching, and wraparound services that empower participants to achieve their career and financial goals. This coaching aims to embed social capital resources into families and their communities, with far-reaching benefits. The coaching partners include United Way Pioneer Valley in Springfield, Worcester Community Action Council, and Women’s Money Matters in Boston.

“This is education and training around budgeting and goal setting around employment,” Joyce said. “Financial education and wellness is a big part of it.”

The third element is employer participation, aimed at mapping access to career pathways that pay a living wage, while helping area employers gain perspective on how the cliff effect impacts their workforce.

Joyce noted that six of the seven Springfield pilot participants are with Baystate Health, on track to become LPNs, in an environment where healthcare employers are in desperate need of more nurses.

“That’s an important part of this, this connection to employers,” she said. “We’re really connected to training and working with employers to advance them to a living wage job, or a family-sustaining wage job, so when they lose benefits, they’ll be in a better position at the end of the two years.”

The final step is a $10,000 asset-building payment, awarded after two years to support life-changing investments, such as moving to a better home or purchasing reliable transportation.

“We see that as a transformational investment for families,” Joyce told BusinessWest. “It’s an active investment in families.”

When the pilot program was announced in 2022, Laura Sylvester, Public Policy manager at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, noted that many households who receive emergency food at member food pantries and meal sites are directly impacted by the cliff effect. “Fear of losing benefits prevents people from advancing in their careers, keeping them trapped in a cycle of poverty. It is a major cause of food insecurity and economic instability.”

That’s why supporters of this program hope it will be a meaningful first step toward addressing the cliff effect on a much broader scale in Massachusetts, including through legislative solutions.

“A few months ago, this all felt out of reach. Now, with support from the Bridge to Prosperity pilot, I’m not just dreaming of becoming a nurse; I’m taking real steps toward it and toward building a stable future for my son.”

To that end, Springfield WORKS is also part of Beyond the Cliff, a national coalition with organizations in 12 other states, that grapples with legislative and policy solutions to the cliff effect. Models that have been discussed include benefit policy changes — like more gradual benefit reductions, increased income eligibility, and tax credits — as well as greater employer engagement on this issue, more robust workforce development programs, and addressing systemic barriers like lack of transportation, childcare, and healthcare.

Looking Ahead

Anne Kandilis, director of Springfield WORKS, called the pilot “a tremendous victory for workers and families throughout the Commonwealth” when it was announced. “To create economic opportunity, we must remove obstacles for people as they work to earn a livable wage by making sure that we do not strip away public benefits too rapidly.”

Joyce noted that, as the pilot is expanded to 100 participants — again, in the Springfield, Worcester, and Boston areas — the idea is to study outcomes that will inform policy and system solutions to the cliff going forward.

“The end goal is to eliminate the cliff effect and make policies so that families are not on a poverty track,” she told BusinessWest. “We’re not looking to drop people into a benefit state, but support them as they move into family-sustaining jobs.”

Anne Kandilis

“To create economic opportunity, we must remove obstacles for people as they work to earn a livable wage by making sure that we do not strip away public benefits too rapidly.”

Bedsides United Way Pioneer Valley, Worcester Community Action Council, and Women’s Money Matters, other supporting partners with the program include the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Massachusetts Economic Pathways Coalition, Baystate Health, Boston Medical Center, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, Boston Foundation, Ceres Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds, MassMutual Foundation, UpTogether, and a number of legislative advocates, including state Sen. Adam Gomez and state Reps. Pat Duffy and Carlos Gonzalez.

And while the initial cohort of pilot participants from Springfield are in healthcare, Joyce sees potential in expanding it to early education, the hospitality sector, and the trades.

“We’re excited to hopefully expand this with fundraising and other employee partners,” she said. “We’ve heard directly from employers that their employees are refusing promotions; going from minimum wage to around $22 an hour is when the cliff effect really hits. We know there’s a lot of that in the healthcare space, education, and hospitality — CNAs, medical assistants, early educators.

“Folks have to make a rational decision, and if they take an increase, it could be a couple dollars an hour, and they lose all these benefits,” Joyce said, quickly adding that, when the cliff effect can be managed, “these employees benefit, and employers also benefit because they can keep their good workers and help their incumbent workers move up in their careers and advance.”