Massachusetts

Across the country, funder collaboratives pool funds to foster the formation and expansion of workforce intermediaries and to advocate for policies that will sustain these new organizations. The power of these collaboratives comes not just from the funds they bring to programs but, even more crucially, from the alignment of civic leadership around a common vision for the community. This report was prepared for Investing in Workforce Intermediaries, itself a collaboration of the Annie E. Casey, Rockefeller, and Ford foundations.

A crucial part of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay’s vision is providing low-skilled individuals and low-income workers with the necessary skills and opportunities to earn a sustaining wage to support themselves and their families. UWMB collected best practices—including SkillWorks—as the starting point and foundation for this report.

SkillWorks: Partners for a Productive Workforce is addressing the needs of employers for more skilled workers and of workers for more and better access to jobs that pay a family-supporting wage. This five-year, public/private partnership is an ambitious effort on the part of philanthropy, government, community organizations, unions, and employers to change how workforce development is done in Boston.

Community health workers are essential to the U.S. public health system. They work in diverse settings and under myriad titles to improve access to health care for underserved populations using culturally appropriate methods. Despite their importance, community health workers are often not well rewarded, and their job tenure is unstable. Well-defined career paths are lacking, as are systematic skills sets and credentials recognized across work settings and usable for higher education.

Partners in Automotive Career Education (PACE), a partnership of four automotive repair firms with three community-based organizations and two schools, is building new career training capacity in automotive technology for low-income Boston residents. PACE helps employers analyze their staff skill development needs, trains new and current entry-level workers in automotive skills and English language and math skills customized to the automotive industry.

Partners in Career and Workforce Development, led by Partners HealthCare, addresses labor shortages in nursing and other technical health care occupations by creating a range of learning opportunities for entry-level and incumbent employees who are capable and motivated to advance in health care. It brings Partners’ diverse pre-employment and career development efforts under one umbrella, making them more accessible to entry-level workers and their supervisors.

The Boston Health Care and Research Training Institute is a partnership of eleven health care employers, one union, three community colleges and training agencies, ten community organizations, and the Boston Private Industry Council to improve employment opportunities and career paths for Boston residents, leading to jobs paying family-supporting wages.

The Hotel Career Center, a partnership between the International Institute of Boston and the Hilton Hotel Corporation, is helping low-income recent immigrants move toward economic self-sufficiency, while at the same time helping the company train and retain high-performing employees. HCC provides job-specific language and skills training to program participants and places them in positions with growth potential at partner hotels.

In order to build career advancement opportunities for low-skill building custodians, the Voice and Future Fund, the nonprofit arm of Service Employees International Union Local 615, partners with building management companies to improve English language skills among a large immigrant workforce and to provide them with more advanced training in facilities maintenance and skilled trades, leading to career pathways into full-time employment with benefits.

SkillWorks is a collaborative effort of public and philanthropic funders concerned with enhancing the capacity of the greater Boston workforce development system to meet the needs of job seekers, incumbent workers, and employers.