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
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I lead the Weinberg Foundation’s grantmaking focused on helping individuals and families achieve economic stability. I oversee more than $15 million in grants annually, primarily aimed at supporting job-training programs that result in industry-recognized credentials, as Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. My name is Tuquan Harrison (he/they), and I am a Program Officer at the James Irvine Foundation. For the past three years, I have led grantmaking and strategy development for the Better Careers Initiative, focusing on investing in a Read more
Tell us a little bit about your background and why you joined Workforce Matters. I currently lead the work-based learning strategy at Strada Education Foundation. Our aspiration is for every learner to have access to quality work-based learning, so we’re focused on a dramatic scale of paid internships, apprenticeships, and Read more
This summer, Workforce Matters will launch a new peer-to-peer learning lab facilitated by Surabhi Jain of Surbahi Jain Consulting. This learning lab will serve as a community of practice for grantmakers interested in learning how to practically apply the principles of Trust Based Philanthropy. This new learning lab will focus Read more