Workforce

Sector partnerships bring education, workforce development, economic development, and community organizations together with business leaders, from the same industry and in the same labor market, to address the workforce and other competitiveness needs of that industry. Sector partnerships are an important tool to address talent shortages and build thriving workforce ecosystems. The Foundation is planning and developing two sector partnerships for our region in healthcare and construction/green infrastructure, two sectors with some of the highest anticipated growth rates in the number of quality jobs in the region. These sector partnerships will be employer-driven while bringing the Foundation’s strong relationships with public and nonprofit sector partners to bear to increase opportunity and economic advancement for both these industries and their talent pools.

Many of the challenges in our workforce ecosystem reflect the need for broader support services for workers, such as reliable transportation and high-quality childcare, and for employers to access the talent they need, develop practices to support a more diverse workforce, and effectively deepen their talent pools. As such, the Foundation is in the early stages of research and development of an independent, regional workforce intermediary which will help provide strategic coherence for regional workforce efforts to boost impact, increase economic vitality, and ultimately grow the middle class in our region.