April 2017 News & Updates
Welcome to our April newsletter! Workforce Matters is a national network that leverages the collective knowledge, relationships, and experience of grantmakers to advance the field of workforce development. Read on to learn more about recent events, planned activities, and partner resources.
Meet the Funder: 
Crystal Bridgeman, Siemens Foundation

Crystal Bridgeman joined the Siemens Foundation as Senior Director of Workforce Development in 2014 after years of working on labor and workforce issues on Capitol Hill. Crystal was recently elected to Workforce Matters' Executive Committee as our new Co-Chair.  Click here to learn more about Crystal...
Upcoming Workforce Matters Events

Please note that Workforce Matters events are reserved for grantmakers representing funding organizations, including private, independent, family, corporate, and operating foundations, corporate giving programs, United Ways, and individual philanthropists.
 
Workforce Matters Apprenticeship Update
Join Workforce Matters for an apprenticeship updates call on  Thursday, April 20th at Noon EDT/11am CDT/10am MDT/9am PDT. We'll hear about a special celebration USDOL has planned for the 80th anniversary of the Fitzgerald Act this fall, debrief on our recent site visit to CareerWise Colorado, and preview the Apprenticeship Forward conference program with New America. 
 
Webinar: Philanthropy & Advocacy 101 - Investing in Change
Join us Tuesday, April 25th at 2pm EDT/1pm CDT/12noon MDT/11am PDT for a special webinar with Keely Monroe, Counsel at Alliance for Justice. This web presentation will discuss rules that funders should keep in mind to comply with federal tax law while helping to maximize the effectiveness of their nonprofit grantees' advocacy work. The session will cover: 
  • Reasons for public and private foundations to consider supporting advocacy 
  • Activities that constitute advocacy and public policy work 
  • Various roles for foundations to play in support of nonprofit advocacy 
  • Definitions of lobbying 
  • Activities that are exceptions to the definitions of lobbying, including those in which private foundations may engage 
  • Rules for private and public foundation grants to nonprofits that lobby, including general support and specific project grants 
  • Grant agreement language that permits support for policy work
Webinar: Investing in Entry-level Talent - Retention Strategies that Work 
Join us on Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 3pm EDT/2pm CDT/1pm MDT/12 pm PDT for a webinar on FSG's recently released report, Investing in Entry-Level Talent: Retention Strategies that Work , and the Impact Hiring Employer Learning Community they are facilitating to help employers put these retention strategies in action. The authors of the report will discuss highlights from their research, which was supported by Walmart. They will also share reactions to the report from the nine major companies participating in the Impact Hiring learning community and what they are learning about employer engagement in the process.

 
Interested in participating in any of the above events? 
Please RSVP to  [email protected] to obtain the login information.
Racial Equity and Workforce Development 
Workforce Matters will be launching some new work this year focused on racial equity in workforce development. This will include developing learning opportunities and professional development; facilitating peer learning and exchange; and developing, refining and learning about tools we can use in our workforce development grantmaking to address disparities and move toward greater equity. We'd love to put together a core group of members to help lead this work.

Interested in joining the conversation or helping to develop this work? Contact us at [email protected]. 
New Faces and Warm Wishes
Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in serving in a Workforce Matters leadership role. Please join us in welcoming our newest Steering Committee members :
  • Sameer Gadkaree , Joyce Foundation
  • Danielle Goonan, Walmart Foundation
  • Regan Gruber Moffitt, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
  • Nikki West, Kaiser Permanente
  • Holly Zanville, Lumina Foundation
In addition, we're pleased to announce that  Crystal Bridgeman of the Siemens Foundation has been elected as Co-Chair.

We would also like to issue an enormous thank you to our departing Steering Committee members: 
  • Gayatri Agnew, Walmart Foundation 
  • Peggy Hilden, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
  • James McCrary, who recently left the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham to launch James P. McCrary Philanthropic Counsel
  • Matthew Muench, who recently left the Joyce Foundation to join the Ballmer Group 
  • Mark Popovich of the former Hitachi Foundation
  • Laine Romero-Alston, Ford Foundation
  • Christina Rupp of the former ACT Foundation
Finally, a warm welcome to our newest subscribers! We've added 25+ new subscribers since the beginning of the year, bringing our growing network to nearly 350 members.
Apprenticeship Updates

The Apprenticeship Work Group  hosted a tour of CareerWise Colorado on March 6th & 7th. An enormous thank you to the CareerWise team and Governor Hickenlooper (shown at right) for their gracious hospitality.  To learn more about the CareerWise tour, please  check out our website  or join us on the afternoon April 20th for a discussion of lessons learned during our next apprenticeship updates call (see above for times and RSVP information). 

On May 4th and 5th, several Workforce Matters members will be attending the Apprenticeship Forward conference in Washington, DC, which aspires to help chart a path toward a future where millions more American workers and businesses reap the benefits of a high performing apprenticeship system built through the collaboration of the public, private, and philanthropic sectors. The conference was made possible through the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Joyce Foundation, The JPB Foundation, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and the Siemens Foundation. Planning to attend? Let us know and we'll help you connect with other Workforce Matter members while you're there.
In case you missed it...
March 3, 2017 
Webinar: Young Adult Employment under WIOA: Lessons Learned from Early Implementation
National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) joined Workforce Matters to present a webinar with practitioners from three states to discuss WIOA implementation and lessons learned to date that are informing their young adult employment strategies. This webinar featured:
Thomas Showalter, NYEC; Kathy Hamilton, Boston PIC; Karine Kanikkeberg, Kern High School District, Career Resource Department (Bakersfield, CA); Alice Prince, St. Louis WIB; and
Molly Baltman, McCormick Foundation.  

March 2, 2017 
Webinar: The Employment Technology Fund
In early 2017, four foundations came together to support the launch of The Employment Technology Fund as an initiative of  New Venture Fund . The Fund will aggregate and mobilize capital to facilitate the growth of companies and/or non-profits working to scale technology-enabled solutions to address the major barriers faced by struggling adult learners in the US. On this webinar, representatives of the  Walmart Foundation  and  Joyce Foundation  shared their goals and approach for the Fund. 

February 24, 2017 
Webinar: Work-based Learning: Building and scaling high quality work-based learning systems
Kim Green, Executive Director of Advance CTE and Kate Blosveren Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director joined Workforce Matters members to provide an overview of Work-based Learning and best practice, featuring examples learned from Rutherford County Schools in Tennessee. 

Miss any of the above webinars? Contact [email protected] for a link to the recordings.
News and Events from Around the Field

Funders Together to End Homelessness is launching its second Community of Practice, Foundations for Employment and Housing, to focus on the connection between employment and housing stability. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to Jennifer Olney at [email protected]. 

The Federal Reserve Board is now accepting applications from individuals who wish to serve on the Community Advisory Council (CAC). A local workforce development or labor leader is sought to complement the diverse regional and national range of expertise currently on the Council. To learn more, please visit https://www.federalreserve.gov/secure/CAC/Application/. The Board will accept applications through 11:59 PM EDT on June 5, 2017.

The Walmart Foundation will be in attendance and is interested in connecting with other workforce funders - let us know if you'll be there and we'll put you in touch.
 
May 2-3: Advance CTE Spring Meeting, Washington DC
 
May 4-5: Apprenticeship Forward Conference, Washington DC
 
May 18: New America Annual Conference, Washington DC
 

New Resources

From our colleagues at Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce - In case you missed it, meeting materials are now available on the GIST web site for  Philanthropy's Response to Our Nation's High Stakes Budget and Tax Debates, GIST's 14th Annual Briefing and Strategy Discussion for Grantmakers.
The Pinkerton Foundation recently announced the release the fourth paper in its Pinkerton Papers series,  Social Enterprise: Proceed, with Caution  by Steven Dawson. "
In a burst of entrepreneurial spirit, the workforce development field is showing new enthusiasm for an old idea: creating 'social enterprises' to employ low income jobseekers."
 
New America has two new blog series, one previewing key issues that will be discussed at the Apprenticeship Forward conference in May and a second as part of their work on  youth apprenticeship with the support of the Siemens Foundation.

The Aspen Institute recently released Investing in Workforce Program Innovation: A Formative Evaluation of Five Workforce Organizations' Experiences during the Human Capital Innovation Fund Initiative, describing the experiences of the five grantees and ways they planned, implemented, and adapted new strategies.

FSG's Investing in Entry-Level Talent: Retention Strategies that Work  highlights four evidence-based strategies for effective retention and advancement, backed by 14 practical suggestions for implementation as exhibited by companies like The Container Store, Verizon Wireless, Gap Inc., Wegmans Food Markets, and many others. This research was supported by the Walmart Foundation.

Ascend at The Aspen Institute's Efficient, Effective Services: Career Pathways and Lasting Economic Stability for Families is a policy brief that helps reimagine the way specific services such as early childhood education, WIOA, TANF, and SNAP are administered that will help more parents get the education, training, and career jobs they need to provide for their children and move their families toward long-term economic stability.

Thank You to Our Supporting Members!

Workforce Matters is made possible through the generosity of our Supporting Members. A special thanks to our 2016-2017 funders: Annie E. Casey Foundation, Hitachi Foundation, Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, The New York Community Trust, Siemens Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Walmart Foundation.

Questions, comments, or ideas? Email us at  [email protected].