Workforce Matters is launching the Fund for Workforce Equity, a new pooled fund that aims to center workers of color in workforce policy and program design and implementation. The impetus to launch this fund comes from Workforce Matters’ Racial Equity Framework for Workforce Development Funders, which recommends that funders take steps to center workers and learners of color in in developing, supporting, and evaluating workforce initiatives, including by:
- Using asset-based, race-explicit, and systemic frames and language to describe workers, learners, and job candidates of color that acknowledge systemic causes of disparity,
- Investing in centering worker power and agency as a part of workforce development, and
- Authentically including, respecting, valuing, and applying the perspectives of workers, learners, and job candidates of color in understanding, measuring, empowering, and deepening the impact of investments in workforce development.
A request for proposals for organizations interested in applying for grants from the Fund for Workforce Equity is now available on the program website.
Workforce Matters will hold an applicant webinar on June 16, 2022 at 3 pm ET. Watch the video and access the FAQs.
Application packets must be submitted via our online portal by July 31, 2022 at 11:59 pm HST. Submit all inquiries to FWE@workforce-matters.org.
