what we're up to
Congratulations to our newest Steering Committee members!
Please join us in welcoming our newest Steering Committee members:
- Monique Baptiste, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Laura Burgher, Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Isa Ellis, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Jennifer LaForest, Holloway Family Foundation
- Kristen Titus, Cognizant US Foundation
In addition, Robin Boggs of Accenture, Lavea Brachman of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, Crystal Bridgeman of the Siemens Foundation, Karen Brown of Fairfield County's Community Foundation, and Jennifer Zeisler of ECMC Foundation were each re-elected to two-year terms.
Finally, an enormous thank you goes out to our departing Steering Committee members: Allison Gerber of the Annie E. Casey Foundation; Regan Gruber Moffitt of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; Jennie Sparandara of JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and Holly Zanville of the Lumina Foundation.
Let's connect! Join Us for Workforce Matters' Monthly Office Hours
Are you new to Workforce Matters? Just looking for information about how to get more involved? Join us for one of our monthly Office Hours, where you'll have an opportunity to share information about your interests, learn more about Workforce Matters, and connect with other workforce grantmakers who are also seeking out learning and partnership opportunities.
Our next Office Hours will be Friday, January 8th at 12:00 pm eastern.
on our calendars
A Conversation About Racial Justice and Worker Mobility
January 6 | 10:00 AM ET | Brookings | Online
Racism and the Economy: Focus on Education
January 12 | 11:00 AM ET | U.S. Federal Reserve System | Online
CTE and Equity: The Work of Intentionally Embedding Equity in CTE Programming
January 13 | 3:00 PM ET | Advance CTE | Online
Taking Stock: Philanthropy’s Role in Supporting Racial Equity
January 27 | 2:00 PM ET | Center for Effective Philanthropy | Online
new information + resources
Upskilling for a Post-Pandemic Economy: Why Skills Training is Now More Important than Ever to Build a Resilient Workforce
In a new report compiled for Amazon by Accenture, researchers found that - with some training and new skills acquisition - one third of American workers studied had the potential to access higher income, growing occupations . Their analysis showed that some 33 million workers with low incomes have the potential to secure "opportunity jobs" paying a median wage of $35/hour.
Searching For Stars: Work Experience As A Job Market Signal For Workers Without Bachelor's Degrees
In this new Working Paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the researchers examine the jobs, wages, and skills of workers who have a high school diploma but not a four-year college degree and are potentially skilled through alternative routes (STARs). They find significant overlap between the skills required in jobs that pay low wages and many occupations with higher pay, identifying 16 million non-college educated workers with skills for high-wage work.
Work-Based Learning Can Advance Equity and Opportunity for America’s Young People
Developed with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this new report from Martha Ross, Richard Kazis, Nicole Bateman, and Laura Stateler at Brookings envisions high-quality work-based learning as a lever to advance equity and economic opportunity for young people. Based on interviews and analyses of the relevant literature, they synthesize lessons from research and practice in education, youth development, and workforce development to weave together a vision of high-quality work-based learning.
Boosting Digital Literacy in the Workplace: How Rapid Prototyping is Helping Businesses to Upskill Workers and What Policymakers Can Do To Help
In this new brief compiled with support from the Cognizant U.S. Foundation, National Skills Coalition asks how workers can best acquire industry-specific digital skills and explores how
public policy can help (or hinder) the process of developing occupational digital literacy.
The Practice of Improving Job Quality: Views from the Field
While the low quality of many “essential” jobs has become more apparent amid the pandemic, the issue of low-quality jobs is longstanding. Developed with support from Prudential Financial and the Ford Foundation, this new publication from the Aspen Institute is based on a survey of organizations about their efforts to advance job quality from before the pandemic. It provides tools and resources for those working to improve job quality internally and externally.
Occupational Mobility Explorer
Researchers from the Philadelphia and Cleveland Federal Reserve Banks analyzed the skills that employers request in the 33 largest metro areas and looked for opportunities for workers to transfer their skills from one occupation to a similar — but higher-paying — occupation in the same labor market. Their interactive tool allows individuals to compare skills across occupations and build model career paths.
Digital Summer Youth Employment Toolkit 2.0
In June 2020, the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions released a 1.0 version of this toolkit. This resource is an updated version, informed by implementation lessons from this “summer like no other” from communities across the Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) network and national partners, and is primarily designed for those who implement and oversee local summer youth employment programs planning for 2021.
announcements
The National Skills Coalition has announced that they will not be convening their annual Skills Summit in person this February in light of the ongoing pandemic. Interested funders and their partners can still sign up to participate in virtual state delegation strategy calls and Hill visits by signing up here.
A group of corporate CEOs recently announced the launch of OneTen, a coalition of leading executives who are coming together to upskill, hire, and advance one million Black Americans over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement. Ken Frazier, Chairman and CEO of Merck, and Ginni Rometty, Executive chairperson of IBM, serve as the Board co-chairs. Learn More
