Partners for Dignity and Rights (formerly known as the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative) is an activist organization that advocates for left-of-center policies regarding economics, social issues, health care, housing, education, and labor unionism. The organization supports left-leaning policies including government-run health care and the Green New Deal. ¹ The organization is also heavily involved in promoting racial and economic policy issues and operates projects including the Dignity in Schools Campaign, the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network, the Healthcare is a Human Right Collaborative,² and promotes a broad set of far-left policies it bills as the “The New Social Contract.” ^{3 4}

The organization has received funding from left-leaning grantmaking organizations including the Atlantic Philanthropies⁵ and the Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation. ⁶

Background

The National Economic and Social Right Initiative was founded in 2004 as a nonprofit advocacy organization to provide training, research, and lobby on behalf of left-of-center activists. The organization was founded in New York City and focused its early efforts on instituting left-leaning reforms to the public-school system in New York. ⁷ Since its founding, the organization has promoted left-leaning positions on organized labor and supported a taxpayer-funded government-run health care system. ⁸

In February 2020, the organization rebranded and changed its name to Partners for Dignity and Rights. It described the rebranding as an effort to better focus on the communities in which it conducts activism and outreach. ⁹

Activity

Partners for Dignity and Rights currently promotes many left-leaning activism projects and programs. The organization’s top issues areas include public schooling, universal health care, public budgeting, housing, and low wage workers. ¹⁰ The organization promotes a “New Social Contract” that includes hundreds of far-left policy proposals. It calls for going beyond universal healthcare to make virtually all public programs, including healthcare and housing, free to all. The organization also attacks fiscal conservatives for promoting tax cuts and calls for dramatic tax increases. ¹¹

The organization is also a supporter of the Green New Deal and has published a white paper detailing its suggestions for implementing the radical-environmentalist policy agenda. The organization’s suggestions for a Green New Deal include banning conventional fuel extraction as well as passing legislation to force private companies to transition to a cooperative employee-owned business model. ¹²

Policing

Another major project of the organization is its Dignity in Schools Campaign, which supports abolishing police presence in public schools in an attempt to eliminate the “schools-to-prison pipeline.” ¹³ The Dignity in Schools Campaign has several state-level chapters and its California chapter, Dignity in Schools California, in partnership with the Black Organizing Project, led a successful campaign to abolish the Oakland (California) Unified School District Police Department. ¹⁴

Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network

Partners for Dignity and Rights also leads the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility network, a labor union-connected project that works with workers in low-wage and low-skill jobs. The project was founded in 2015 in partnership with the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the Fair Foods Standards Council, Migrant Justice, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and the Workers Rights Consortium. ¹⁵

The mission of the Worker-Driven Social Responsibility Network is endorsed by over 60 left-leaning advocacy and labor union organizations including the AFL-CIO, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Economic Policy institute. ¹⁶

1. “Five Questions for a Green New Deal.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Five-Questions-for-a-Green-New-Deal.pdf
2. “Healthcare.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/initiative/healthcare/
3. “Objectives.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/about/#objectives
4. “Dignity in Schools.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/initiative/dignity-in-schools/
5. “NESRI.” Atlantic Philanthropies. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://www.atlanticphilanthropies.org/grantees/national-economic-and-social-rights-initiative
6. “NESRI.” Blaustein Fund. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://blaufund.org/national-economic-social-rights-initiative-2/
7. “Building Human Rights Models.” National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20041024002935/http://www.nesri.org/nesris_program/building_hr_models.html
8. “Building Human Rights Models.” National Economic and Social Rights Initiative. Accessed via Wayback Machine July 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20041024002935/http://www.nesri.org/nesris_program/building_hr_models.html
9. “Partners for Dignity and Rights.” Twitter Post. February 13, 2020. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://twitter.com/Partner4Dignity/status/1227983947818139649
10. “Home.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/  
11. “A New Social Contract.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ANSC-Report-Web-102320.pdf
12. “A New Social Contract.” Partners for Dignity and Rights. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://dignityandrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ANSC-Report-Web-102320.pdf
13. “CCJFG | Police-Free Schools: Dignity in Schools Campaign California Statewide Movement Building and a Framework for Abolition and Transformation.” Northern California Grantmakers. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://ncg.org/events/ccjfg-police-free-schools-dignity-schools-campaign-california-statewide-movement-building-and
14. “CCJFG | Police-Free Schools: Dignity in Schools Campaign California Statewide Movement Building and a Framework for Abolition and Transformation.” Northern California Grantmakers. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://ncg.org/events/ccjfg-police-free-schools-dignity-schools-campaign-california-statewide-movement-building-and
15. “About Us.” WSR Network. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://wsr-network.org/about-us/
16. “Organizational Endorsers.” WSR Network. Accessed July 2, 2021. https://wsr-network.org/organizational-endorsers/