Five Communities Nationwide to Receive $2.1 Million, Strengthening Innovation to Help Workers, Jobseekers

Awards Represent Distribution from Federal Government’s
Social Innovation Fund

Boston, MA – The National Fund for Workforce Solutions today announced grants totaling $2.1 million to five communities to bolster regional collaboratives that support local, employer-led workforce partnerships. The awards represent the third round of funding supported by the federal Social Innovation Fund grant awarded to the National Fund and its implementation partner, Jobs for the Future.

“The National Fund model is locally driven, and unique to every region and every industry sector,” said Damian Thorman, National Program Director at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Chair of the National Fund. “But all of our sites are built upon a similar strategy: implement job training and career support programs in close partnership with employers, ensuring that businesses benefit from a skilled workforce and employees get the skills and certifications that lead to sustainable careers.”

 The awards represent a combination of federal funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund and an equal amount of matching funds raised by the National Fund from private donors. The Social Innovation Fundis an innovative federal program that addresses major challenges confronting communities by growing high-impact nonprofit organizations delivering proven solutions.

“The grants announced today will allow five of these sites to expand their efforts into new industry sectors or strengthen current work with local employers,” said Thorman. Each of these grants was awarded through a competitive process. They are:

Central Iowa Works Funding Collaborative, Des Moines, IA: $600,000 over two years. Contact: Jane Fogg, 515-246-6605

Workforce Solutions Collaborative of Metro Hartford, Hartford, CT: $300,000 over two years. Contact: Kim Oliver, 860-493-6831

Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative, San Francisco, CA: $600,000 over two years. Contact: Jessica Pitt, 415-733-8560

Dan River Collaborative, Danville, VA: $300,000 over two years. Contact: Julie Brown, Ph.D., 434-836-5674

Workforce Innovations in Northwest Louisiana, Shreveport, LA: $300,000 over two years. Contact: Paula Hickman, 318-221-0582

(See below for a complete description of each site.)

 The grants being announced today are the third stage in awards made by the National Fund as part of the Social Innovation Fund. In late 2010, the National Fund awarded two-year grants to a number of current National Fund sites. Earlier this year, grants were awarded to fund six new sites in communities in the South and Southwest.

About National Fund for Workforce Solutions:

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is an award-winning national initiative focused on helping low-wage workers obtain good careers while at the same time ensuring that employers have the high-quality skills that will enable them to succeed in this highly competitive economy. Since 2008, the National Fund has raised nearly $24 million to support 30 communities that have contributed an additional $104 million in locally-raised resources from 216 different funding sources, including community foundations, United Ways, corporate foundations, workforce investment boards, chambers of commerce and state agencies. Each of these communities has created local funding collaboratives that are collectively investing in more than 80 sectoral workforce partnerships. The addition of these six new sites brings the total number of communities where the National Fund is working to 30.

Twelve national funders lead the effort: Annie E. Casey Foundation; the California Endowment;Ford Foundation; The Foundation to Protect Open Society; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; The Joyce Foundation; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Microsoft; The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; The Hitachi Foundation; the Prudential Foundation; and the Walmart Foundation.

About Jobs for the Future:

Jobs for the Future develops, implements, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In 200 communities in 41 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.

About the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the Social Innovation Fund:

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve.  The Social Innovation Fund is an initiative of the Corporation that improves the lives of people in low-income U.S. communities. Through an innovative public-private partnership, the Social Innovation Fund and selected local and national grant makers co-invest in programs that increase the scale of community-based solutions that have evidence of real impact in the areas of youth development, economic opportunity or healthy futures.  Every Federal dollar invested is matched with private funds, and all programs are rigorously evaluated. As a result, the most effective approaches can be expanded to reach more people in need and key lessons can be captured and broadly shared.  For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

About the Five National Fund Sites Receiving Grants:

Central Iowa Works Funding Collaborative

This award will allow CIWFC to scale up their investment in workforce partnerships in the health care, energy and financial services sectors. They will also establish a new advanced manufacturing partnership. Through these workforce partnerships, CIWFC expects to support 455 job seekers and 355 incumbent workers in their efforts to prepare for, attain and advance in family-supporting jobs.  The CIWFC Social Innovation Fund initiative includes an innovative, social network-based labor exchange.  Using the social network LinkedIn as a platform, the exchange connects employers, education and training providers and job developers. It is a combination of a broker system and a client management system.  This members-only exchange allows workforce partnership clients unique access to employers and facilitates the tracking of client progress.

Jane Fogg, Director
c/o United Way of Central Iowa 
1111 9th Street
Des Moines, IA 50314
Phone: (515) 246-6605
E-mail: jfogg@unitedwaydm.org

Workforce Solutions Collaborative of Metro Hartford

Workforce Solutions Collaborative of Metro Hartford (WSCMH) serves the Connecticut Metropolitan Hartford region. WSCMH is a long-established funders’ collaborative and a network of public/private stakeholder organizations committed to developing an educated, economically self-sufficient workforce that meets employer needs. Their Social Innovation Fund grant will allow them to intensify the work of their three workforce partnerships – advanced manufacturing, energy and utilities and health care. In particular, WSCMH will strengthen, sustain, and scale up the work in each partnership to address two key issues for lower-income workers -- lack of prerequisite basic skills and lack of hands-on experience. Lower-income workers will be connected to technical training using information exchanges and knowledge bases, referrals, and scholarships. Also, the workforce partnerships will help develop integrated curriculum that incorporates hands-on experience, which may include job shadowing, internships, and/or on-the-job training opportunities.

In order to ease financial constraints for job seekers while in training, WSCMH will make funds available for the use of stipends, paid internships, United Way’s 2-1-1 and its online benefits tool for increased access to income supports, and referrals to Co-opportunity for help with financial education services and budget coaching. WSCMH’s goal is to serve 290 individuals over two years and to engage 45 employers in the workforce partnerships.

Kim Oliver, Manager
Workforce Solutions Collaborative of Metro Hartford
30 Laurel Street
Hartford, CT 06106
Phone: (860) 493-6831
Email: koliver@unitedwayinc.org

Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative

Through its Social Innovation Fund award Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative (BAWFC) will accelerate the development of a complete regional allied health career pipeline by building on investments in industry-driven training in participating Bay Area community colleges.   Each of their partnerships has strong employer engagement organized by community colleges acting as intermediaries.  These include major hospital systems in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties as well as health departments in both counties.  BAWFC will invest in a “bridge” strategy that is aimed at ensuring that job seekers will succeed through rigorous training and into job placement.  BAWFC intends to serve 525 job seekers and 105 incumbent workers.

Jessica Pitt
Initiative Officer, Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative
The San Francisco Foundation 
225 Bush Street, Suite 500
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: (415) 733-8560
E-mail: jpitt@sff.org

Dan River Collaborative

The Social Innovation Fund award will allow DRRC to scale up successful strategies, extend their geographic footprint into Patrick County and potentially partner with border counties in North Carolina. In addition, DRRC will explore the creation of an information technology partnership to serve the growing number of businesses taking advantage of the region’s investment in an 800+ mile fiber optic broadband network. The Dan River Region Collaborative has a committed leadership group that includes important civic, philanthropic and public sector organizations in the region giving them a strong understanding of regional labor market, the unique challenges of different parts of the region and the opportunities for using workforce development to drive economic development.  They plan to serve 200 job seekers and 500 incumbent workers.

Julie J. Brown, Ph.D.
Project Manager
Dan River Region Collaborative
P.O. Box 11716
Danville, VA 24543
Phone: (434)836-5674
E-mail: jbrown@danriverrc.org

Workforce Innovations in Northwest Louisiana

This Social Innovation Fund award will allow Workforce Innovations in Northwest Louisiana (WINLA) to expand its existing workforce partnership in health care and to create a new partnership in the energy sector.  The WINLA collaborative was a result of civic leaders responding to the mission of the National Fund and the opportunity presented by the Social Innovation Fund.  WINLA leadership members have been working for over a year to strengthen the funding collaborative, attract matching funds and formalize the existing health care workforce partnership.  They now have a collaborative of impressive breadth led by the Community Foundation of North Louisiana. The Consortium for Education, Research and Technology of North Louisiana (CERT) is managing the health care partnership. Other partners include Willis-Knighton Health System, and Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith.  Together the WINLA project plans to serve 150 job seekers, 198 incumbent workers.

Paula Hickman, Ph.D.
Executive Director
401 Edwards Street, Suite 105
Shreveport, LA 71101
Phone: (318) 221-0582
Email: hickman@nlacf.org