In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the 32 awardees of the Good Jobs Challenge. I was thrilled to see that several collaboratives in our network will be partnering with the awardees to help them meet their goals. Through our collaboratives’ participation in these projects, our whole network will gain new learning and insight that will inform how we find new ways to make an equitable economy a reality.
Our nation is at an important turning point where we can make real progress on removing barriers and investing in a future where businesses, workers, and communities thrive. This investment and commitment to job quality will have ripple effects across the country that we hope will spur even more action toward lifting up all workers.
“We are so excited that the City of Boston received a Good Jobs Grant,” said Joanne Pokaski, National Fund board member, Boston Healthcare Careers Consortium member, and assistant vice president for workforce development at the Beth Israel Lahey Health System. “We look forward to using these new resources to expand equitable training pathways into good jobs in healthcare, child care, and clean energy.”
Learn more about the ways our network will be participating in this essential work to invest in good jobs across the country. We are eager to see how the work progresses for all Good Jobs challenge grantees and learn from their experience. Congratulations!
Central Iowa Works, an initiative of the United Way of Central Iowa, will create career pathways into new high-demand healthcare positions by convening healthcare employers in the region. The effort will expand HealthWorks, a training program developed by Central Iowa Works and its healthcare partners in 2016.
Central Six AlabamaWorks! joins several other organizations in the city of Birmingham to build a pipeline of skilled healthcare and digital health worker. Central Six will work with Innovate Birmingham to convene stakeholders in co-design sessions to ensure programs meet the needs of employers.
Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance (CWFA) will provide matching funds to support Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership and other stakeholders in creating sustainable pipelines to good-paying jobs with a focus on communities on Chicago’s South and West sides. The work will leverage the Network of Employer-Led Workforce Solutions, a group first convened by CWFA in 2021.
Hawaiʻi Workforce Funders Collaborative will work closely with the University of Hawaiʻi Community College system and backbone organizations to fund initiatives in key industries for the state. The initiatives will connect individuals whose employment opportunities were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic with employer-driven training that leads to good jobs.
New York City Workforce Funders may be a partner for future resources to a Good Jobs Challenge project focused on New York City. The city’s Human Resources Administration will support recruitment and training designed to place New Yorkers into union jobs in two industries: building and construction and transportation, distribution, and logistics.
Pathways to Work will provide its Skills-based Hiring Lab training curriculum to support Dallas College to develop and grow a biotechnology workforce in North Central Texas. Biotechnology employers will receive skills-based hiring training through the Lab as an important component of the effort.
SkillWorks provides funding to the Healthcare Careers Consortium (HCC) through the Boston Private Industry Council. HCC is the healthcare sector partnership working with the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation of Boston to place talent into healthcare careers with advancement opportunities as part of the Good Jobs Challenge Grant.
Workforce Solutions Collaborative of Metro Hartford works closely with Capital Workforce Partners – the backbone organization leading the information technology employer partnership as part of the Good Jobs Challenge Grant received by the Office of Workforce Strategy.
