Alliance Partner Jobs for the Future awarded Social Innovation Fund grant
7/30/2010
The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, with its implementation partner Jobs for the Future (JFF), was awarded a two-year $7.7 million dollar grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service under its Social Innovation Fund.
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 groups that partner with employers to identify jobs and career pathways in high-growth industries.
The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, is a new way of doing business for the federal government that better targets public-private resources toward solving social challenges. The SIF grants will expand the impact of high-performing organizations and innovative solutions to issues in three key areas: economic opportunity, youth development and school support, and healthy futures.
“The Social Innovation Fund grant will help our communities to scale up strategies that work in growing or high demand industry sectors,” said Marlene B. Seltzer, president and CEO of Jobs for the Future.
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.
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. JFF became an Alliance Partner in 2008.
The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is a 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.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Obama's national call to service initiative, United We Serve. The Corporation is a founding partner of the Alliance. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.