Workforce Development Roundup: Resources on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Orga­ni­za­tions and insti­tu­tions that sup­port work­force devel­op­ment efforts must use prac­tices that fos­ter diver­si­ty, equi­ty and inclu­sion to expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for peo­ple who have his­tor­i­cal­ly faced bar­ri­ers gain­ing well-pay­ing jobs — par­tic­u­lar­ly peo­ple of color.

The lega­cy of past racist prac­tices and poli­cies, such as occu­pa­tion­al seg­re­ga­tion and lim­it­ed sup­ports for agri­cul­tur­al and domes­tic work­ers, con­tin­ue to have effects that block career and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for many peo­ple of col­or — includ­ing Black, Lati­no and Indige­nous peo­ple, who are far less like­ly than white peers to have jobs that pay wages that can sup­port an indi­vid­ual or fam­i­ly. The eco­nom­ic tur­moil stem­ming from the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has exac­er­bat­ed exist­ing inequities that con­tribute to these disparities.

Below are resources, pro­duced or fund­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, that pro­vide key tips, tools and rec­om­men­da­tions for the work­force devel­op­ment field on pro­mot­ing racial equi­ty and serv­ing peo­ple of color.

A Racial Equi­ty Frame­work for Work­force Devel­op­ment Funders

By Work­force Matters

This pub­li­ca­tion iden­ti­fies how orga­ni­za­tions that fund work­force devel­op­ment efforts can influ­ence changes in the field that reduce bar­ri­ers to career and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for peo­ple of col­or and help elim­i­nate poli­cies and prac­tices that per­pet­u­ate sys­temic racism. The report includes rec­om­men­da­tions around invest­ments that can help fos­ter racial equi­ty, includ­ing reforms to broad work­force and employ­er sys­tems and approach­es that cre­ate obsta­cles for peo­ple of color.

Equi­ty in Youth Appren­tice­ship Programs

By the Nation­al Alliance for Part­ner­ships in Equi­ty (NAPE) as part of the Casey-fund­ed Part­ner­ship to Advance Youth Appren­tice­ship (PAYA)

This pub­li­ca­tion offers rec­om­men­da­tions and tools to help guide appren­tice­ship pro­grams in expand­ing access to ser­vices for peo­ple in mar­gin­al­ized com­mu­ni­ties, includ­ing those of col­or; fos­ter­ing belong­ing for peo­ple of var­i­ous back­grounds; and acknowl­edg­ing people’s diverse con­tri­bu­tions to class­room learn­ing and the workplace.

Sup­port­ing Lit­er­a­cy and Numer­a­cy Skills Among Out-of-School Youth

By the Urban Insti­tute

This report explores how work­force and edu­ca­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions can help improve the read­ing and math skills of youth and young adults who have faced bar­ri­ers to com­plet­ing school or have been left behind in class­room learn­ing. Dis­pro­por­tion­al­ly, these youth are from com­mu­ni­ties of col­or or low-income back­grounds, says the report, which is based on a lit­er­a­ture review and inter­views with 12 groups that con­nect young peo­ple to employ­ment and learn­ing opportunities.

Build­ing a More Inclu­sive Tal­ent Mar­ket­place and TPM Resource Guide

By the U.S. Cham­ber of Com­merce Foundation

The TPM Resource Guide is aimed at Cham­bers of Com­merce seek­ing to imple­ment a strat­e­gy for devel­op­ing tal­ent. It offers rec­om­men­da­tions for fos­ter­ing clos­er work­ing rela­tion­ships between employ­ers and orga­ni­za­tions serv­ing com­mu­ni­ties that have his­tor­i­cal­ly faced obsta­cles enter­ing the work­force, includ­ing peo­ple of color.

Build­ing a More Inclu­sive Tal­ent Mar­ket­place breaks down how var­i­ous work­force stake­hold­ers can use resources and tech­nol­o­gy — includ­ing Cham­ber tools, such as those cre­at­ed for its T3 Inno­va­tion Net­work and Job Data Exchange — to help unem­ployed and under-employed peo­ple more eas­i­ly find job oppor­tu­ni­ties and com­mu­ni­cate their expe­ri­ences and qual­i­fi­ca­tions to employers.

Imple­ment­ing an Exec­u­tive Skills Approach

By New Moms

This pack­age of resources includes a case study, tool kit and video about the non­prof­it New Moms’ efforts to incor­po­rate exec­u­tive-skills build­ing into its pro­grams that help young moth­ers — who are pri­mar­i­ly women of col­or — in the Chica­go area gain job skills, sup­port a fam­i­ly and find qual­i­ty hous­ing. Exec­u­tive skills are the cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties need­ed to set goals, devel­op plans and fol­low through on them, the report says.

A Clos­er Look at Gen­er­a­tion Work

By the Annie E. Casey Foundation

This blog series details the Casey Foundation’s Gen­er­a­tion Work ini­tia­tive and its progress in posi­tion­ing young peo­ple — espe­cial­ly indi­vid­u­als of col­or and those from low-income com­mu­ni­ties — for work­place suc­cess. Each post focus­es on one of the five Gen­er­a­tion Work sites: Hart­ford, Indi­anapo­lis, North­east Ohio, Philadel­phia and Seattle.

Resources to Help Young Work­ers Through the Eco­nom­ic Crisis

By the Annie E. Casey Foundation

This blog post shares resources for help­ing young peo­ple, espe­cial­ly those of col­or, through the eco­nom­ic tur­moil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

See the Casey Foundation’s Race Equi­ty and Inclu­sion Action Guide