Social Innovation Fund grants $7.7 million to National Fund for Workforce Solutions to expand assistance; Opportunity Chicago is one of 23 National Fund sites

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The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, with its implementation partner Jobs for the Future (JFF), has been awarded a two-year $7.7 million dollar grant from the Corporation for National and Community Services under its Social Innovation Fund in Washington, DC. Opportunity Chicago is one of 23 local sites of the National Fund, and is working in Chicago to help 5,000 public-housing residents prepare for and find employment over five years, as well as to improve the public workforce development system so that it can better serve low-skilled, low-income job seekers.

Partnering with JFF, the National Fund, collaborating with nine national and 200 local and regional funders, will expand its assistance to at least 23,000 additional participants over three years in 24 high-need communities, while at the same time addressing the critical skill needs of more than 1,000 employers. The funds will dramatically increase economic opportunities for disadvantaged workers and jobseekers through investments in regional workforce collaboratives that partner with employers to identify jobs and career pathways in high-growth industries.

“This award is testament to the hard work and innovative spirit found at the 23 local sites of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions,” said Barbara Dyer, president and CEO of The Hitachi Foundation, and chair of the National Fund. “As the recovery takes hold and a new economy emerges, local solutions responsive to local economies are needed to prepare employees for careers and to help employers succeed. The Social Innovation Fund accelerates our work to uncover and share these local solutions.”

“The Social Innovation Fund grant award recognizes the importance of working with both employers and workers so that the investments we make in human capital yield significant benefits to individuals, industry sectors, and our communities,” said Fred Dedrick, executive director of the National Fund. “This grant will challenge the National Fund to expand its work of helping low-income workers succeed in this dynamic economy by responding to the skill needs of our communities’ employers. We know that these strategies are effective and we are anxious to deepen their impact.”

The grant will support new regional start-up collaboratives in 6-8 communities in the south and southwestern regions of the U.S. and broaden the impact of current collaboratives in 12-16 communities where National Fund investments have already brought key stakeholders together around partnerships that serve the needs of both workers and employers. The project will provide for an evaluation of the model’s impact to generate new knowledge about how to address the economic needs of low-income job seekers and the skills needs of employers in particular industry sectors.

“The Corporation for National and Community Service recognizes the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, in which our organization plays a leading role here in Chicago, as a groundbreaking and innovative approach for preparing workers and employers to succeed in a post-recession economy. This speaks volumes both about the work we are doing and the need to continue to aggressively move forward with current and new partnerships with employers,” said Maria Hibbs, executive director of The Partnership for New Communities, a co-founder, major funder and lead strategist for Opportunity Chicago. “While it’s premature to know if and how Opportunity Chicago will be involved in the Social Innovation Fund, we appropriately accept the compliment paid to us and every site of the National Fund and the challenge in front of us.”

Nine national funders are the core funders for the National Fund for Workforce Solutions: Annie E. Casey Foundation; the California Endowment; Ford Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Microsoft; The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; The Hitachi Foundation; the Prudential Foundation; and the Walmart Foundation. The National Fund works collaboratively with its partners Jobs for the Future and the Council on Foundations.

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