This fall, Workforce Matters will launch a new peer-to-peer learning lab facilitated by Clair Watson Minson of Sandra Grace LLC to serve as a community of practice for grantmakers working to implement ideas and strategies inspired by A Racial Equity Framework for Workforce Development Funders.
Our new learning lab will focus on the theme of centering workers and learners of color in workforce policy and program design. Centering workers and learners of color is one of the primary recommendations in Workforce Matters’ Racial Equity Framework for Workforce Development Funders and is fundamentally core to the work of equity. Examples of what funders can do to center workers and learners in workforce grantmaking, drawn from our Framework, include:
- Structure funding to incentivize the authentic engagement of all workers, learners, and job candidates, especially those who are People of Color, in the design and delivery of workforce programs and services.
- Support training and capacity building for workforce development practitioners to use human-centered design principles.
- Use asset-based, race-explicit, and systemic frames and language to describe workers, learners, and job candidates of color.
- Bridge the silos within and across grantmaking institutions that currently separate workforce development investments from investments in organizations devoted to worker rights, economic justice, legal rights, movement building, and worker power building.
The lab will be limited to no more than 16 participants to ensure that we can include a diverse range of experiences, geographies, philanthropic organizations, and backgrounds and also have the opportunity build a trusted community with an opportunity for rich exchange. We are seeking grantmakers who can commit to and actively participate in all four conversations. Each 90-minute session will convene every other Thursday at 3 pm ET/ 2pm CT / 1 pm MT / 12 pm PT on the following dates:
- October 7
- October 21
- November 4
- November 18
