About Ascendium Ascendium Education Group’s philanthropy is grounded in our commitment to ensuring all learners have a path to upward mobility, and the recognition that good jobs increasingly require some kind of postsecondary education or specialized workforce training. As a national funder, our investments aim to transform postsecondary education and Read more
Earlier this year, Workforce Matters fielded a feedback survey and hosted two listening sessions in partnership with the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). Over 100 individuals participated, including grant partners in our Workforce Grantmaking in Native Nations and Communities initiative, Native-led nonprofits, Tribal programs, 477 programs, WIOA Section 166 Read more
Workforce Matters created and released Workforce 101 in May 2025. Developed by Nancy Snyder Consulting and delivered by Nancy Snyder and Katie Spiker of the National Skills Coalition, this webinar and slide deck provided a detailed overview of the publicly-funded workforce development system with insights specifically tailored toward philanthropic interests. Read more
The Workforce Matters team was busy in June, connecting with members in Bozeman, New Orleans, and Los Angeles at different conferences and events. On June 4th, Natasha Hale, project manager for our Workforce Grantmaking in Native Nations and Communities initiative, presented “Yours in Service: Native Nation and Community Design in Read more
Ranita Jain, Annie E. Casey Foundation Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. Throughout my career, I’ve focused on expanding access to meaningful education and employment opportunities, especially for individuals who have been historically underserved. Over the years, I’ve worked across government, research Read more
On May 29, Workforce Matters members working at the intersection of postsecondary education and workforce development gathered for a virtual peer to peer conversation. The goals of our call were to create a space for participants to: catch up with each other; learn about each other’s work at this Read more
The recognition of Workforce Development Month began in 2005. Now, almost 20 years later, organizations across the field continue to recognize the contributions of the workforce development field to our economy and society at large. As a philanthropy-serving organization uniquely focused on workforce development through our support of workforce grantmakers, Read more
We hear you! Workforce Matters members have told us they want more opportunities to learn from and with each other on various topics and strategies related to workforce grantmaking. So, this fall, we’ve redesigned our Learning Lab series to address this interest, and we’re excited to launch our new “Peer Read more
On August 28, 2023, Workforce Matters hosted a briefing and discussion for workforce grantmakers on the implications of the Supreme Court’s decisions in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC. To accompany the discussion, we compiled a number of relevant resources in a Padlet in the hopes that they might Read more
On May 10, 2023, during Mental Health Awareness Month, Workforce Matters held a webinar with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the U.S. Department of Labor. The webinar featured Assistant Secretary Taryn M. Williams, Anupa Iyer Geevarghese, Chief of Staff, and Robert Trombley, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Read more