Building A Resilient Future: Aligning Climate Adaptation with Workforce Innovation
During our Further Together conference this fall, we convened a powerhouse plenary conversation to discuss the intersection of climate adaptation and workforce development innovation. Moderated by Jenny LaForest of the Holloway Family Foundation, we heard from Saket Soni of Resilience Force, Aubrey Richeson of the Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) and Rachel Korberg of the Families and Workers Fund. Each speaker brought their unique lens and perspective to the conversation but they all converged around a common goal: to invest in aligning climate adaptation efforts and workforce innovation.
In a rapidly changing natural environment, the climate crisis is reshaping the way we live, work, and build communities. As regions across the globe face rising temperatures, extreme weather, and shifting industries, the demand is growing for bold solutions that connect climate adaptation to workforce development. Traditional workforce development efforts have not focused on climate or environmental justice. And rebuilding homes and communities after climate disasters requires trained and ready workers.
Resilience Force has worked at this intersection of climate adaptation and workforce development since Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005. Thousands of migrant workers came to support rebuilding efforts, becoming the first “resilience workers.” Since then, Resilience Force has worked tirelessly to support, train, and advocate for resilience workers across the country. Their work sits squarely at the intersection of climate resilience, climate adaptation, and workforce innovation. One critical question they are asking is: “How can we build a resilience workforce that doesn’t just respond to yesterday’s disasters, but adapts and prepares for the disasters to come?”
The Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) provides services to approximately 15,000 clients across California and Oregon annually. NCIDC supports a range of activities that meet the needs of Indian and Native American Communities, including a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Section 166 employment and training program. There is a history of resource extraction industries, and even renewable energy industries, harming Indigenous and marginalized communities to benefit the general public. Yet renewable energy generation (solar panels, wind turbines, offshore winds) is here to stay and can be a critical source of jobs and economic growth in rural Tribal communities. NCIDC also emphasizes the importance of recognizing lived experience in the workforce and that Native people have generations of accumulated wisdom to share that can improve land management. Therefore, it is essential to intentionally engage and include community members in the planning and development of climate resiliency projects during, and even before, the hiring stages. Partnership with communities impacted by renewable energy and other climate infrastructure-related projects ensures equitable outcomes. Aubrey underscored that if an organization’s goal is for low-income/disadvantaged or marginalized communities to be more prosperous and have more opportunity, then we need to ensure investments in climate infrastructure create economic opportunities for the communities they’re happening in.
The Families and Workers Fund (FWF) has a history of supporting and spurring workforce innovation, investing in organizations working at the intersection of economic mobility, scaling inclusive workforce development, and poverty-reducing public benefits. FWF’s grantmaking to advance workforce readiness in climate and infrastructure sectors focuses on two strategies. The first is to help scale inclusive training pathways that train and place underinvested communities in good careers in in-demand industries. The second is to support state and local agencies and place-based coalitions to coordinate and convene stakeholders around workforce readiness in these industries while also creating good jobs. Through their investments, they’ve come to recognize that this work is inherently cross-sectoral, and if all of the partners aren’t at the table, we won’t come up with great solutions. FWF anchors their work in a key question: “How do we create win-win partnerships that uplift workers and meet the needs of employers?”
L to R: Loh-Sze Leung (Workforce Matters), Aubrey Richeson (Northern California Indian Development Council), Rachel Korberg (Families and Workers Fund), Saket Soni (Resilience Force), Jenny LaForest (Holloway Family Foundation), Clair Minson (Workforce Matters)
Our panelists left us with the following considerations and reflections:
- Disasters are a part of our new normal. The climate crisis is a problem that we’re all at the center of, and no person or community is exempt.
- We are in a moment where all of our ecosystems are geared towards a resiliency agenda.
- Every locality will have a need for a local, year-round resiliency workforce team. How can philanthropic investments help meet this need?
- Jobs that support climate recovery and resiliency are often low-paid, and climate workers are vulnerable to labor exploitation and/or low-quality jobs. Improving job quality is imperative to ensuring critical sectors like climate resiliency can attract and retain a skilled workforce.
- Training providers and public sector partners can advance job quality through win-win models with employers that train workers in high-demand regional markets while improving job quality.
- Nonprofits have not been incentivized to tell the intersectional nature of their work. We have to find better ways to talk about the partnerships needed to meet resiliency and workforce needs.
- Philanthropy must shift its language in order to engage the public sector in this work.
How can you consider working at the intersection of climate resiliency and workforce innovation? Where can you invest to ensure that these intersectional efforts are supported in your local area, region or nationally? We’d love to know how we can support your learnings and investments, and work with you to build a resilient future.
