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As my America Achieves colleagues and I close out the year, there is much to be grateful for and even more to be hopeful about. Recently, I read Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us, and in it, she discusses the concept of a solidarity dividend, whereby gains in economic growth and generational wealth are made when communities come together across race, geographic boundaries and historical divides, and the outcomes benefit everyone.
This framing is something that has come to life this past year in communities across our country as federal funding has galvanized a new paradigm for economic development. A recent infusion of federal funding – including the Commerce Department’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge and Good Jobs Challenge initiatives, as well as the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines and the CHIPS and Science Act – is creating momentum for economic growth that is equity-centered and workforce powered. In the new year, I am hopeful that even more coalitions across our country will lean into a solidarity dividend as they feel incentivized to do even more, particularly as more models of success proliferate and as those coalitions recognize the urgency, imperative and mutual benefits of increasing the pie.
When I think of the opportunity ahead, I am inspired by the progress that is sprouting in communities across our country. This includes the community in Port Arthur, Texas, where the stress on its healthcare system in a mostly rural area means emergency response takes an average of 30 minutes, in stark contrast to the industry gold standard of a less than 5 minute response time. A severe shortage in nursing and healthcare workers is the root cause of the problem, so the Lamar State Community College is working with four local universities and a coalition of partners to build a robust apprenticeship program to deepen and expand the pipeline of individuals entering the healthcare field, with a focus on communities of color, significantly underrepresented in the field at present.
Meanwhile, the Alliance for Building Better Medicine in the Richmond/Petersburg region is growing the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, seeking to onshore the production of orphan drugs and generic medications. The sector's growth will benefit both the rural and urban communities in the region, including in communities where the poverty rate is 76% higher than the national average. They will do this through building bridge programs targeting Black youth and young adults and creating pathways for upwardly mobile jobs through partnerships with school districts, community colleges, local outreach partners and research universities.
In Ohio, an enhanced broadband strategy is bringing high speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas of the state by convening key stakeholders to build a broadband workforce, led by a central coordinator from the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation. Blending state and federal funding, these investments in broadband and 5G are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in Ohio over the next decade.
These groups, among many others, are part of a movement that is afoot to create hope in communities where distress has been the primary commodity. Each of them is taking a unique and varied place-based approach – and doing so with a goal, implicitly or explicitly, to build a solidarity dividend, to grow the pie and to share it more broadly, enabling the benefits to multiply in breadth and depth.
These stories, and many more, are just the beginning of what is shaping up to be an epic, inspiring narrative about economic prosperity, with the bulk of its chapters yet to be written.
But the final version can only come to fruition if even more partners – including philanthropists, state leaders, businesses and educational institutions – come together to invest more deeply in making the impossible possible. Consider that this past year, 508 coalitions applied for the Good Jobs Challenge, 529 applied for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, and 679 submitted concepts for NSF Engines.
Next year, we anticipate that even more coalitions will come together to pursue their visions, leveraging additional federal dollars from the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, to name a few. Regional coalitions cannot do the work alone. Only a fraction of the coalitions that have applied or are applying for federal grants will receive large funding, and even those that receive federal support have additional funding needs if they are to realize their goals of implementing programs that will achieve equitable systemic change.
In the coming year, one way that America Achieves will continue to seek to bridge that divide is through the Catalyze Registry that the White House announced in early November. It is intended to connect funders to promising coalitions with equity at their core, with the hope that an infusion of capital might enable them to construct a talent pipeline that could serve workers and businesses in in-demand sectors alike.
America Achieves will have exciting updates about the Catalyze Registry in the New Year, along with more specifics about our work and ways we hope you will actively engage. But for now, we wanted to say thank you for being part of this hope-building movement. Wishing you a safe, healthy, and hopeful holiday season.
As part of the White House Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge and call to action this summer, President Biden announced today substantial commitments from across the country to equitable workforce development that supports good jobs building our nation’s infrastructure.
As part of the White House Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge and call to action this summer, President Biden announced today substantial commitments from across the country to equitable workforce development that supports good jobs building our nation’s infrastructure.
One of the centerpiece announcements is $70 million in aligned philanthropic commitments from foundations working with the Families and Workers Fund, the What Works Plus Collaborative, and America Achieves. This includes more than $50 million in new philanthropic funding and a commitment to secure an additional $20 million in philanthropic funding for workforce development and equitable access to quality infrastructure jobs.
A key component to securing that funding is the Catalyze Registry, which America Achieves and the What Works Plus Collaborative are launching today. The registry is an innovative hub and matchmaking service that will help connect promising local talent pipeline initiatives – which seek to build skilled, diverse talent pools for upwardly mobile infrastructure jobs – with foundations and other nonprofit organizations that might fund those efforts.
One of the important and needed bipartisan efforts in recent years was the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by Congress and the Biden Administration. This law will help create good jobs and strengthen the economy in communities across the country as they rebuild roads, bridges and rails, and ensure everyone has access to high-speed internet. But this critical national effort will not succeed without ensuring that qualified, local workers from all backgrounds are prepared and hired for these good jobs.
That’s why the Biden Administration has rightly focused the country on the need to help workers from all backgrounds prepare for and access quality infrastructure jobs. Successful implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will depend on sustained commitments and effective programs putting America’s talented and diverse workforce to work. Commitments from America Achieves and our partners are a response to this imperative and to the Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge.
Critical to the effort will be information sharing and storytelling. America Achieves will support coalitions – partnerships of local and regional employers, community colleges and labor and workforce groups, community based organizations and intermediaries, among others – as they build profiles in the registry. Their profiles will include summary information about their projects, including partners, funding needs, geography – as well as photos to bring their stories to life. Finally, they will include any federal proposals and links to websites with more information. These profiles will show to funders the transformative potential of their work to improve lives through pathways to good jobs in in-demand sectors like broadband, construction, and electrification.
The leader of one of those coalitions, Maud Daudon of Career Connect Washington, told us: "We are excited to be a part of this registry as we look to maximize the impact of federal funding by attracting philanthropic dollars to fill in for critical activities that public dollars cannot support.”
The registry will be a one-stop source of information for philanthropic organizations looking to connect with local and regional initiatives that are applying for funding from various public programs. America Achieves will support funders as they engage with the registry by easily searching and filtering proposals based on their funding priorities and mission, and we will follow up with coalitions and initiatives that may align.
In partnering to help create the registry, America Achieves and the What Works Plus Collaborative are responding to a collective desire expressed by funders across the country for additional, creative ways to support these innovative efforts and to have a one-stop hub to view opportunities to provide funding.
“The recent surge in federal infrastructure funding offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance equity, fight climate change, and create good jobs in communities across the country,” said Sasha Beder-Schenker, a program director at What Works Plus. “This public-private partnership will help further these goals by enabling philanthropy to scale needed support for initiatives that build a diverse talent pool for good infrastructure jobs,” she added.
Funders will be able to search the registry for any key words, as well as filter and sort by fields – such as geography served and sector – that can help them identify potential projects to support. The image on the left shows an example of the profiles funders will be able to see.
The initial focus of the registry will be initiatives centered on workforce efforts aligned with federal infrastructure funding. Through philanthropic funding, America Achieves will also seek to increase the number of initiatives included in the registry to include promising, inclusive, place-based economic growth coalitions and workforce efforts.
As a result of Congress and the Biden Administration's inspiring leadership on this issue – and the commitment of our mission-driven philanthropic partners – people across the country, from small towns to big cities, will have access to pathways leading them to good jobs and careers in infrastructure and beyond. At the same time, employers and communities will benefit from connecting with the workers and talent pool needed to repair our roads and bridges, build out broadband, and expand access to electric charging stations across our nation, among other areas of great need.
You can read more about today’s announcement in this press release. If you work for a foundation seeking to have impact in the spirit of the Talent Pipeline Challenge, you can learn more about how to sign up for the registry here.
And if you’ve got questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, at communications@americaachieves.org.
Investments will help ensure a diverse, qualified talent pool for quality infrastructure jobs impacting tens of thousands of underrepresented workers
Today, President Biden announced commitments made by more than 350 organizations in 50 states and territories as part of the InfrastructureTalent Pipeline Challenge. This includes more than $70 million in aligned philanthropic commitments from foundations working with The Families and Workers Fund, the What Works Plus Collaborative, and America Achieves. The Challenge, launched by the Biden-Harris Administration in June, is a nationwide call to action for making tangible commitments supporting equitable workforce development focused on quality infrastructure jobs.
Today’s announcement includes more than $50 million in new philanthropic funding and a commitment to secure an additional $20 million in philanthropic funding for workforce development and equitable access to quality infrastructure jobs. To help secure that additional funding, America Achieves and the What Works Plus Collaborative are launching the Catalyze Registry, with matchmaking services to connect foundations with promising initiatives, and the Families and Workers Fund is launching a pooled fund portfolio.
The Catalyze Registry is an innovative hub and matchmaking service that will connect promising local talent pipeline initiatives – which seek to build skilled, diverse talent pools for upwardly mobile infrastructure jobs – with foundations and other nonprofit organizations that might fund those efforts. The goals of the registry are to:
America Achieves will support coalitions – partnerships of local and regional employers, community colleges, and labor and workforce groups, among others – as they build profiles in the registry. Those profiles will include summary information, photos, proposals, and other materials that explain to funders the transformative potential of their proposals to improve lives through pathways to good jobs in in-demand sectors, such as clean energy, transportation, and broadband. America Achieves will also work one-on-one with interested funders to support them in finding aligned and promising initiatives.
Established in 2010, America Achieves’ strategic focus and mission is to create clear pathways for economic advancement and success for all in a rapidly changing economy. America Achieves catalyzes large-scale impact by generating and incubating ideas, delivering thought partnership and philanthropic funding to promising and sustainable models, and convening and advising foundations and other key leaders to advance evidence-based solutions. Essential to these efforts is creating a shared understanding of the challenge and the range of potential solutions to ensure Americans can obtain the education and skills they need to be successful in the 21st century workplace.
Launched in 2022, the What Works Plus (WW+) Collaborative coordinates across philanthropy, non-profits, and government to advance equity and climate resilience by addressing gaps in the implementation of federal infrastructure funding. The collaborative focuses on developing and supporting partnerships that result in better outcomes for communities, workers, and entrepreneurs across four main areas: 1) government capacity building, 2) diverse pipelines to good infrastructure jobs, 3) inclusive and equitable procurement, and 4) community engagement. What Works Plus (WW+) is housed at Freedman Consulting, a firm known for its public-private partnership expertise and is creating a learning community for philanthropic funders interested in cross-sector collaboration.
The Families and Workers Fund is a coalition of diverse philanthropies working to help repair and reimagine the systems that fuel economic security, opportunity, and mobility. By deploying funding and building partnerships, the Fund seeks to advance jobs that sustain and uplift people and invest in developing a more inclusive, effective public benefits system.
“The Biden Administration has rightly focused the country on the need to help workers from all backgrounds prepare for and access quality infrastructure jobs. Successful implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will depend on sustained commitments and effective programs putting America’s talented and diverse workforce to work. Commitments from America Achieves and our partners respond to this imperative and to the Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge. As a result of the bipartisan efforts by Congress and the Biden Administration’s leadership on infrastructure and workforce development, communities across the country, from small towns to big cities, have an opportunity to build quality infrastructure while putting local residents to work in good jobs making this possible. With a successful focus on workforce development, employers and communities will benefit from connecting with the diverse, qualified workers needed to repair local roads and bridges, build out broadband, and expand access to electric charging stations. America’s talented and diverse workforce will be able to access good jobs and contribute their talents and skills to make this possible.”
“The recent surge in federal infrastructure funding offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance equity, fight climate change, and create good jobs in communities across the country. This public-private partnership will help further these goals by enabling philanthropy to scale needed support for initiatives that build a diverse talent pool for good infrastructure jobs.”
We are excited to be a part of this registry as we look to maximize the impact of federal funding by attracting philanthropic dollars to fill in for critical activities that public dollars cannot support.”
The White House fact sheet can be viewed here. Watch President Biden’s announcement at 2:15pm ET on November 2nd, 2022 here. The new Catalyze Registry site can be viewed here. More information can also be found on the America Achieves blog.
Accelerate, a new nonprofit organization that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs in public schools, today announced it has selected 31 education and research partners to receive over $10 million in grant funding to develop and scale sustainable, cost-effective models for high-impact tutoring that boost academic achievement for students. In addition to supporting innovative programs, the grants target research focused on specific barriers that have previously stood in the way of making high-impact tutoring affordable, accessible, and sustainable. Grantees are working in 28 states across the country.
Accelerate, a new nonprofit organization that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs in public schools, today announced it has selected 31 education and research partners to receive over $10 million in grant funding to develop and scale sustainable, cost-effective models for high-impact tutoring that boost academic achievement for students. In addition to supporting innovative programs, the grants target research focused on specific barriers that have previously stood in the way of making high-impact tutoring affordable, accessible, and sustainable. Grantees are working in 28 states across the country.
The announcement comes six months after the organization’s formal launch, at which U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona encouraged public schools to adopt high-impact tutoring models, and days after newly released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores showed major declines in academic performance of American schoolchildren.
“We know that good tutoring programs work — partly because well-off families have used them to boost student success for generations. And we know that those same programs can be a powerful tool to close racial and economic opportunity gaps when we give less privileged students the same access. What we haven’t figured out yet is how to make high-impact tutoring available for everyone,” said Accelerate CEO Kevin Huffman. “With districts deciding how to spend one-time federal funds to combat the effects of the pandemic, solving that challenge has never been more urgent.”
Research has found well-designed tutoring programs to be one of the most effective educational interventions. However, the best-proven models are labor-intensive, making them difficult and expensive to expand. Accerelate’s grants take aim at that tension.
Accelerate’s grantees, which represent school districts, tutoring providers, nonprofit organizations and others across the country, will receive financial and operational support to design, implement, and scale innovative tutoring strategies; join a national community in which they can share best practices and resources; and help inform Accelerate’s national research and policy agenda on tutoring. All grantees will participate in formal research to assess program effectiveness and to explore research questions that will shape the design of future tutoring efforts.
“The inaugural cohort of grantees represents some of the most innovative organizations in the space,” said Dr. Janice Jackson, Executive Chair of Accelerate and CEO of Hope Chicago. “From tutoring models that are virtual, to models that are embedded in the traditional school day, to models that focus on specific subjects or student populations, each grantee has a unique approach to high-impact tutoring, but all share a common goal of putting forward strategies that are cost effective, that can be scaled over time and that help close achievement gaps, particularly for our most vulnerable learners.”
Among the grantees is Reading Partners, a non-profit organization that provides foundational literacy tutoring to students, and has proven successful through randomized controlled trials. The non-profit received a grant to implement and study its new Reading Partners Connects model, a virtual tutoring program based on the successful in-person model.
“We are excited to be part of Accelerate’s new initiative to embed high-impact tutoring in public education,” said Adeola Whitney, CEO of Reading Partners. “High-impact tutoring is proven to increase student achievement and help close opportunity gaps. While much research has examined the positive effects of in-person tutoring, we are thrilled to be partnering with Accelerate to examine the impact of our Reading Partners Connects online tutoring program which we think can be a game-changer in advancing educational equity at scale.”
Among the other grantees:
The announcement of the inaugural cohort of grantees follows a competitive national selection process. In spring 2022, Accelerate released a Call to Effective Action to recruit partners to design, launch, and scale high-impact tutoring efforts and to build a community committed to impact. A diverse panel of experts reviewed more than 200 letters of intent and invited finalists to submit a full-length proposal. All 31 grantees receiving awards are working with students and schools in this academic year.
View a list of all grantees and a summary of their tutoring models.
About Accelerate
Accelerate is a nonprofit organization, incubated and launched by the national nonprofit America Achieves, that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs into public schools now and for the long term. Launched in April 2022 with an initial fund of $65 million, Accelerate funds and supports innovation in schools, launches high-quality research, and advances a federal and state policy agenda to support this work.
Accelerate is leading efforts to improve practice on multiple fronts, including as a lead technical assistance partner to the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS). The NPSS is a joint partnership of more than 100 organizations, The Department of Education, AmeriCorps, the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center to launch a new coalition formed to expand high-quality tutoring, mentoring, and other evidence-based support programs, with the goal of ensuring an additional 250,000 adults serve in these roles over the next three years.
Accelerate is supported by Kenneth C. Griffin, founder and chief executive officer of Citadel; Arnold Ventures; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and the Overdeck Family Foundation.
For more information, visit http://www.accelerate.us.
Last week, President Biden, joined by Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, announced nearly $1 billion in Phase II grants for 21 regions (out of 60 finalists) in the Economic Development Agency’s (EDA’s) Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC).
Last week, President Biden, joined by Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, announced nearly $1 billion in Phase II grants for 21 regions (out of 60 finalists) in the Economic Development Agency’s (EDA’s) Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC).
As our CEO Jon Schnur reiterated last week, the opportunity for transformative impact continues – for all 60 finalists.
Early in the process, EDA made a key design decision: it chose not to just write checks to finalists. Instead, it turbo-charged success by building a technical assistance coalition including America Achieves, the National League of Cities, the Nowak Lab at Drexel University, and the Federation of American Scientists. Together, we supported all 60 finalists as they developed their strong Phase 1 concepts to great Phase II proposals. Our role was that of a strategic advisor and thought partner.
As a coalition that was external but still working closely with the EDA, we could offer unbiased support to all finalist coalitions. Our collective insights and guidance were grounded in a goal of ensuring every regional team leveraged their full potential in submitting final applications, while still being separated from decision making in the selection process. While our group had a relatively short time frame to dive in and assist Phase I grantees with their Phase II applications, by working together, and with critical coordination with the EDA, we were able to provide important, multidimensional support.
What follows are my reflections on five aspects of the technical assistance and culture of collaboration that helped the finalists not only develop a proposal but the beginnings of a movement.
To build trust with and offer value to the finalists, we sought to meet the finalists where they were – and offer technical assistance that matched their greatest needs. We surveyed finalists regularly, created a framework for support that was highly aligned with the BBBRC evaluation criteria, and offered support via a variety of access points, all in close partnership with EDA. Specifically, we provided:
As a former educator, this mixed-modality approach reminds me of strategies we used to ensure students, teachers and families were accessing curriculum and culture in a manner that best met their learning style. In the world of BBBRC applicants, there were some regions that particularly valued the 1:1 meeting because they didn’t typically have access to a cadre of consultants. Others appreciated the webinars because the discourse in the chat was so rich, while others leveraged the resource library as their go-to support because it suited their need for on-demand access to case studies and guidance.
The BBBRC application was complex, so we strived to help the coalitions find simplicity and impact at scale on the other side of complexity. The nature of a federal application, in pursuit of millions in public dollars, necessitates dense and extensive compliance requirements. Our goal was to enable finalists to zoom out from the intricate web of requirements and also ask guiding questions that could sharpen focus on their respective north stars, and the flight plans and resources to get there. In other words, we held up a mirror and encouraged finalists to name and stay true to the simplest, most important and highest impact aspects of what they were envisioning. This was crucial for coalition alignment, stakeholder engagement, funder buy-in, and the crafting of a compelling application.
The time period in which each of the finalists went from concept to design to iteration to, ultimately, reality was profound. It required finalists to make their vision and goals especially simple and clear – or, to put it another way, to make the implicit, explicit. For many finalists, given the political, economic, and historic complexity in which they were seeking to achieve simplicity, it was easy to overlook key aspects of their work, like how inclusivity and equity played out in every aspect of their proposal, or what decision making and accountability would look like. Again, we served as strategic thought partners, asking guiding questions like: What are the historic barriers you are seeking to overcome? How are you overcoming them? How would someone know that from reading your application? How do you use data to measure and continuously improve progress and success across the initiative and coalition? And, finally: How will the world look different when this work is successful?
Each Phase I finalist is truly a winner that is on course for pathbreaking success. All finalists received half a million dollars in planning grants to move their applications forward because the initial vision they crafted stood to be transformative and high impact. Ultimately, only some of the 60 regions received Phase II awards. But to be clear: being a Phase I winner opens the door to opportunities that will put regional finalists on a path to catalytic growth, regardless of Phase II outcomes. Each regional coalition received a grant, national exposure, ongoing technical assistance, and insights and expertise from other regions that likely wouldn’t have been possible without this phase of the competition. They should be fully celebrated for the triumphs they achieved during a compact planning process. They brought coalitions together in places where deep divides have historically prevailed; engaging non-profits, community colleges, K-12 partners, universities, and industry leaders in conversations grounded in a collective vision of hope.
It would have been easy for each finalist to see the other as a competitor, but instead, each graciously wore the hat of movement builder, collectively paving the path for a paradigm shift to inclusive, place-based, good-jobs driven economic development. The hope each finalist spurred in their region translated to a collective sense of impact and possibility. Finalists stepped outside the boundaries of a competition to troubleshoot together, share emerging best practices, provide constructive feedback, and connect as leaders in the solidarity of the challenge of moving change forward. Ultimately, they recognized that their success was inextricably connected to the success of their peers, the greater good, and an equitable tomorrow.
Moving forward, American Achieves, along with several partners, is exploring ways to propel all 60 coalitions down their paths to success, expanding the depth and breadth of a growing movement. Local, state and federal leaders, philanthropies, social impact investors, businesses, and more have an opportunity to not only stand in awe of the regional coalitions but to stand with them, offering funding and support to sustain long-term success. We hope many of you may be interested, and so stay tuned as we will have more to say about that shortly.
By coming together – be it the regional coalitions themselves, the group of TA providers, the TA providers working with the regions, or the regions forming relationships with one another – the value of the whole for the Phase I planning experience is much greater than the sum of the parts. During our first convening of Phase I grantees back in February, EDA Assistant Secretary Alejandra Y. Castillo told the group: “We’re not only living history, but we’re making history.” Whether or not a coalition received a Phase II grant, we have immense optimism for all 60 regions, the movement they are building and the history and impact they are making.
Sixty Regional Coalitions Building America’s Future and a Good Jobs Economy Later this morning at the White House, 60 extraordinary, bipartisan regional coalitions (selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce from 529 applicants) will be honored by President Biden, Secretary Gina Raimondo and others for their work.
Later this morning at the White House, 60 extraordinary, bipartisan regional coalitions (selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce from 529 applicants) will be honored by President Biden, Secretary Gina Raimondo and others for their work.
Each region has a deep, broad coalition with a specific plan to help build America’s future and global competitiveness, strengthen their local economy, and create thousands of local jobs, with a focus on their underserved (including rural) communities. Initial media reports will highlight how much funding will be awarded to the one-third of the coalitions for which the Biden Administration had enough funding to provide in its $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). You can tune in to the announcement at 11am Eastern Standard Time at whitehouse.gov/live.
But the real story started in all 60 regions with strong local and state leadership before this important grant competition began – and that can continue to drive an inclusive local good jobs economy and America’s global competitiveness long after it ends. For sure, this innovative federal grant competition and the funds announced today by President Biden and Secretary Raimondo will accelerate progress enormously. But Secretary Raimondo has emphatically said that all 60 are “investment worthy” – and the materials accompanying today’s announcement from Commerce and the Economic Development Administration rightly highlight all of them.
Each coalition has selected an economic sector based on local assets, but that may be squandered without strong local leadership and coalitions – and a new type of economic and workforce development including catalytic investments in research & development, technology, and skills training. For example, many of these regions can revitalize historically important but now shrinking local manufacturing sectors – and build high-demand fields and good jobs including in aerospace, clean energy, and natural resources, such as environmentally sustainable forestry. Each coalition recognizes that competitiveness and equity are inextricably linked – and are finding ways to help ensure that underserved communities and populations are poised to help lead, contribute and benefit.
As many of you know, the non-profit organization I lead, America Achieves, and our partners have had the opportunity to partner with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Administration in supporting the work of all 60 coalitions. At a conference this summer in Washington, DC, that we helped convene, federal agencies, foundations, and other coalitions heard the stories and plans in each region, which left us with immense hope for the vibrant futures and healthy economies and communities they can build.
My “ask” is that we not only honor these 60 coalitions building jobs and hope – but find ways to support them concretely because they are national leaders and models of the future for regions everywhere. In many cases, governors, state legislatures, counties, and private partners have committed matching funds in the coalitions’ grant applications; each should provide funding regardless of whether their local region won a large grant. Federal agencies and foundations came to learn about all 60 this summer; each should find ways to channel other federal and philanthropic funds to support this work. Congress should substantially expand funding for this work. The Administration should incorporate insights from these 60 coalitions into the implementation of crucial funding to be awarded through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the recently enacted CHIPS and Science Act. Employers are playing central roles – and more should join them to help lead and benefit from this work.
To the leaders and coalitions who are building the future: we send a huge heartfelt thank you for all you have done and will do for your community and our country. You are the future and an inspiration to us and so many others across the country. And to all of you: consider learning more about each of their proposals here.
In the coming weeks, we will use the Catalyze Blog as a platform for these coalitions, including to help them tell their own stories. We are also exploring ways we can support the coalitions to tap additional sources of funding, including the recent federal initiatives I mentioned above, the remaining American Rescue Plan funding, and the philanthropic sector.
In the meantime, we want to congratulate President Biden, Secretary Raimondo and the EDA, Congress, and especially all 60 of these extraordinary local coalitions building local good jobs economies and America’s economic competitiveness and future.
What 60 Regional Economic Coalitions Can Teach Us about Intentionality, Trust, and Taking Account of the Past as We Imagine the Future
Growing up as an African American in the segregated South of the early 1950s, it would be very easy to look at the world, still, through the binary racial filter of my childhood – “beware whites, trust negroes.” The problem is those childhood filters had been rendered less effective by my lived experience. My lived experience had confirmed to me many times that character is not defined by skin color. Still, it was difficult not to lapse into a comfortable old “truth”.
So, when my JSA colleagues and I were asked to help deliver technical assistance around equitable economic development to the 60 Regional finalists in the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA’s) $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC), I was in a “trust, but verify” kind of space.
I needed to confirm that the people I would be working with were as committed to prioritizing equity and equitable development as I was. Fortunately, after some frank conversations and an initial presentation, we signed on, in no small part because Jon Schnur and his colleagues at America Achieves demonstrated to me and my colleagues that we could “put all our cards on the table – face up” through our contributions to the technical assistance America Achieves would provide. That was the key moment. I was not interested in delivering a “light touch” or “just a taste.” For me, the national moment was too grave and the local stakes too high. I felt the applicants needed to meet a high bar. And I didn’t want us to be out on a skinny limb.
Achieving equity and equitable development requires hard work. It requires people to discover their shared interests, resolve their historic conflicts, co-exist, and collaborate with each other – and with accountability – despite many, many years of “bad blood.” In the TA sessions with the BBBRC finalists, we zeroed in on historic conditions and the requirement for embedding intentionality, including asking, honestly, “Who is at the table? Who is not at the table? Why aren’t they here?” when designing processes to produce equitable results.
I am not naïve about change. Progress is hard and it takes time. The thing that matters most is commitment. And commitment is one of the characteristics that so many BBBRC finalists have in common. I’m certain about that.
These coalitions, like those supported by the EDA and America Achieves, have prioritized their efforts for working with and supporting historically excluded communities, including in rural areas; communities of color and indigenous communities; lower income communities; and those that have experienced significant distress in rural and urban geographies.
During the time I spent with these inspiring coalitions, I saw how the role of equity and equitable development emerged in their final proposals. If I were to synthesize what I heard (and learned) from the coalitions, it would be something like this:
Now, we’ve Zoomed ahead (literally) a few months. As those 60 finalists await imminent word on which of them will be awarded grants up to $100 million, the national moment is arguably even more pivotal. The local stakes linked to the success of all 60 of these coalitions are enormous and the need for winning regional coalitions to meet a high bar is totally non-negotiable. At the same time, a tangible expression of hope and a commitment to progress has emerged.
Across America, simplistic expressions of binary “truths” are being replaced with broad-based, creative, complex, and inclusive coalitions. Those coalitions are composed of local, regional and state officials; businesses; colleges and universities; and nonprofit and entrepreneurial organizations. As such, I suspect my observations will also be relevant to the many communities and regions considering traveling a similar path as the BBBRC finalists.
I'm going to say this now: After the past couple of weeks, and the passage of bills that will have a tangible impact on our people, our communities and our planet, I’m feeling excitement that these 60 coalitions - both those who receive phase two grants as well as those who don’t - can drive such meaningful impact in the months and years ahead.
The next era of American achievement, hopefully one with equity at its center, is coming. These coalitions will need to do all they can to take advantage of the additional federal investments coming down the pipeline, and are going to have an opportunity to help make America be a country that works for all. Or, to put it another way: it’s a big national moment for each of us to take a fresh look at those old filters we all have, as well as the messiness of our collective, lived experience, and look to the path ahead with a new (and inclusive) clarity and focus.
In the previous two posts on the Catalyze Blog, Jon Schnur, CEO of America Achieves, wrote about the optimism generated by the 60 finalists for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) Build Back Better Regional Challenge, and how momentum is growing – thanks to an increase in federal investment and a movement of local, regional, and state leaders in coalitions across the country. The Build Back Better Regional Challenge, or BBBRC, also represents an evolution of how the federal government can support growth and opportunity in communities across the country.
In the previous two posts on the Blog, Jon Schnur, CEO of America Achieves, wrote about the optimism generated by the 60 finalists for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) Build Back Better Regional Challenge, and how momentum is growing – thanks to an increase in federal investment and a movement of local, regional, and state leaders in coalitions across the country. The Build Back Better Regional Challenge, or BBBRC, also represents an evolution of how the federal government can support growth and opportunity in communities across the country.
As Jon shared: “This program is not your grandparents’ economic development strategy.” Traditional economic development is often based on corporate incentives or marketing to lure (typically very large) companies away from other regions of the country. As such, it by itself often results in a race to the bottom across regions that is zero-sum (or worse) for overall American economic growth and competitiveness.
I agree that the BBBRC represents a new approach to economic development, one that will have better outcomes for us (and our grandparents), and just as importantly, lay the foundations to create long-lasting benefits for our grandchildren. I see five key differentiators from much economic development in the past.
1. Focusing on equity: This question was the first on the minds of many of the coalitions (and the entire federal government). Such a people-centered view of economic development differs from how it was practiced in the past, in which growth alone for growth’s sake was success. EDA understands that growth that does not benefit historically excluded communities (HECs) is not a good investment of public funding.
So America Achieves and the other members of the BBBRC Technical Assistance Coalition (TA Coalition) encouraged finalists to think about equity in terms of three areas:
We encouraged organizations to add depth to their equity commitments by expanding the number of HEC affiliated organizations that they were actively working with. Finalists also took stock of existing distress and inequities, and to understand why their HECs had been excluded, in order to do things differently and achieve different outcomes.
Finally, coalitions had to set goals and formulate plans to measure progress against these goals. While many programs require data and measurement, the BBBRC’s focus on disaggregating data is an important step forward. It will help ensure that the investments not only support growth, but also support growth for those communities that have not traditionally benefited from it.
2. Investing in economic clusters that are asset-based: BBBRC is built on a premise that national economic growth and competitiveness are best served via regionally-driven growth. That is why it required finalists to understand and build on their existing assets around an industry cluster. Bruce Katz at the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel, one of our TA Coalition partners, provided some invaluable reflections about the different types of clusters we saw emerge in the process.
In order to make the case for their cluster, regions started with an assessment of the assets and comparative advantages of their region. These could be existing cultural assets, natural resources, research institutions, demographic strengths, or transportation infrastructure, for example. Regions worked to build on their assets with complementary investments in – and projects around – physical, human, and organizational infrastructure required for long-term, globally-competitive success.
3. Transforming economic growth through supporting systems, not just projects: Many economic development programs have focused on stand-alone projects and investments, which can all too often be disconnected from a broader vision, even if they are individually valuable. A water pipe here, an industrial park there. BBBRC requires an ambitious, coherent vision that clearly connects to the goals and the structure of the finalist’s coalition and then to the projects.
The TA coalition worked with finalists to help them formulate and visualize strategically cohesive visions that were grounded in reality and tied together through their projects and impact metrics. We called this their “North Star,” as Jon pointed out in his previous blog post. The projects proposed by coalitions were related and mutually reinforcing, such that the EDA’s investments will jump start a much larger engine of growth.
4. Catalyzing sustainable and long-term efforts: $1 billion is the largest amount of money EDA has ever committed to a competition – as a whole, it is precedent-setting and transformative. That said, when spread across the country for economic development, it is not enough to be transformative in every region of the country.
Moreover, BBBRC funds must be spent within five years. BBBRC sought to take advantage of its flexible nature (unusual for federal funding) to be a down payment on long-term transformation. EDA set up the program to serve as a catalyst that attracts other funding beyond five years, to continue to support the economic engine. When paired with a coalition’s North Star vision, every region also had a clear story to share with potential funders. By taking this longer-term view of growth, BBBRC encourages deeper and broader relationships and funding than would be the case with individual projects.
5. Supporting coalition governance built around regional economic geographies: BBBRC required applicants to join together in broad coalitions to include public and private sector stakeholders, from universities to government agencies to nonprofits. But actually building a functional, long-term coalition is far more complex than gathering commitments and making organizational charts. It requires a clear hub and defined governance to coordinate various interests and clarify roles, including decision making. As importantly, it also requires alignment around the culture of collaboration, including how trust can be forged; collective interests can be identified; disagreements can be resolved; and collective accountability can be achieved. EDA understood that all of this requires resources and so allowed finalists to include funding for organizational infrastructure to allow for investment in strong coalition governance and long-term success.
These coalitions were not built around traditional county, city, or even state lines (as with so many federal programs). Instead, they were determined by economic geographies, such as supply chains, transportation connections, and locations of anchor institutions. We also saw finalist coalitions that explicitly looked toward more equitable outcomes by drawing geographies around historically HECs, such as rural areas or communities of color. Whatever geography they chose, applicants had to explicitly explain how it related to their cluster and coalition.
The EDA’s BBBRC approach outlined above is more sophisticated and can take more time and collaboration to build coalitions and projects than traditional economic incentives. But it is more likely to sustainably grow the local and overall national economy, rather than shuffle jobs and economic production around the country. And it is far more likely to be sustainable, inclusive, and successful for us, our grandparents, and our grandchildren.
This shift in approach offers many lessons learned, not only for the field of economic development, but also for competitive grant programs and coalition-based change in all sorts of fields. These five categories are merely an introduction to some of the deep insights we gathered over the previous few months. The America Achieves team has been documenting our takeaways and are excited to delve more into each of these categories, and more topics, in greater detail over the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
Reasons for Hope, at a Moment of High Anxiety for So Many
Amidst much existential anxiety about the prospects for our economy and democracy, two recent trends and developments offer tangible progress and hope. If these two strands can be brought together by communities and states, they can advance – place-by-place – a healthy and inclusive economy, vibrant careers, and tangible economic progress and optimism that can fuel democracy.
This post describes these two hopeful trends – and offers some lessons learned from America Achieves’ recent work with many of these communities.
The first trend is a type of inclusive economic development and change that is place-based and is focused on innovation and good jobs. To make it happen, innovation-driven local coalitions across the country are bringing together job-creating businesses and industry partnerships, universities, public schools, local and state government, and community partners. These coalitions are developing promising sectors of their local economies by adapting to technological change, building on local assets, and demonstrating how strategies for competitiveness and equity are inextricably linked (I wrote more about this in early August, in my introductory post for the blog).
These regionally led efforts are not our grandparents’ approach to economic development; instead they represent the future. Local enthusiasm and ingenuity for this work generated over 1,000 applications for the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) and the $500 million Good Jobs Challenge – which were enacted last year and administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce and its Economic Development Administration (EDA). Sixty Round 1 finalists were selected for the Build Back Better Challenge from 529 applications across all 50 states and 5 territories – all focused on this inclusive economic growth strategy. Soon, the EDA will award 20 to 30 finalists implementation grants ranging from $25 to $100 million. And earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced 32 winners for the Good Jobs Challenge, a leading edge, jobs-driven workforce strategy to support a healthy economy. I am heartened because this promising approach is also reflected by many of the more than 500 organizations applying for the National Science Foundation’s new Regional Innovation Engines program.
Many of these communities will serve as proof points of success and the nucleus of a growing network of coalitions building their futures.
The second trend that gives me hope for a vibrant and inclusive economic future is recent bipartisan legislation and larger funding that can be used by states and communities as building blocks for a good jobs economy. This includes the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill enacted last year putting our people to work building roads and bridges, crucial access to broadband, and energy infrastructure. The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law last week. It backs semiconductor research and manufacturing, supporting regional innovation and recovery. The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law this week and will fund improving energy security and combating climate change while creating good jobs manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, energy-efficient homes, and electric vehicles.
States and communities will help determine if these larger programs are administered as separate and distinct government programs or deployed in a coordinated and intentional way. Where done right, state and local leaders can use these funds to support a local vision and coalitions building a healthy, sustainable, good jobs economy – and ensuring pathways to these good jobs for local residents.
The time is now for policymakers and practitioners to bring these two hopeful trends together.
At America Achieves, we are supporting communities and regions across our nation reimagining their local economies. What can these coalitions teach us about the conditions and elements essential for state and local leaders doing this well? What insights can we garner from the BBBRC opportunity that are relevant for maximizing the impact of these large federal funding streams? And how might peoples’ lives, and their optimism about the future for themselves, their families and our nation, be impacted by the combination of place-based economic development, supported by the new federal funding available to states and communities?
In my introductory post for “Catalyze: A Blog about Good Jobs, Opportunity and Hope,” I told you how inspired my America Achieves colleagues and I are by the 60 regional finalists in the Build Back Better Regional Challenge. Some regions are developing innovative approaches to advanced manufacturing - including bio-tech, automated cars and aircraft, and semiconductors. Some are adapting the use of natural resources like timber and ocean currents to create or revitalize economic sectors that are rooted in local assets. They’re redefining what’s possible when representatives from indigenous communities, as well as from communities that have seldom been “at the table,” are making key decisions that will inform the near-term economic outlook, career opportunities, and pathways to prosperity for our next generation of workers.
In their plans, these regions addressed eight priorities – and specific questions within each. The questions, as well as the responses, were integral to unlocking the power and potential of each proposal. I would also argue that the priorities and framing questions are highly relevant for others seeking to do this work effectively:
1. Competitiveness and impact of a defined economic cluster: How compelling is the argument for why this is a realistic, competitive economic cluster to drive transformational economic growth, innovation and impact?
2. Strategic coherence and project alignment (pointing toward a “North Star”): How essential, coherent, and aligned is the proposed strategy – and each project – to build the planned economic cluster?
3. Measurable goals and effective use of data.: How strong and measurable are the goals? To what extent is data collected and used to drive improvement and course-corrections to advance success and meet real-world demand
4. Equity: How effectively is equity built into measurable goals and outcomes, commitments, and the process by which information gets shared and decisions get considered?
5. Governance and leadership advancing collective action: How well does the governance strategy support effective collective action aligned to shared goals? How does this address roles, responsibilities, decision making, and long-term commitments from coalition members?
6. Financial strategy and feasibility: How compelling and specific are the budget, staffing plan, and financial strategy - including private, public, and philanthropic financing?
7. Workforce & human capital: Are there strong systems, intermediaries, outreach, industry partnerships and processes to ensure in-demand jobs are accessible, attainable, and provide upwardly mobile opportunities for targeted communities?
8. Storytelling: How compellingly do finalists tell the story of their region’s opportunities and challenges? Do they incorporate the major themes above into their story and share it in a way that creates an emotional appeal, both internally and externally?
By addressing these questions, the finalists have created pragmatic plans for innovation, good jobs, and tangible progress in a changing technological and economic environment.
For communities and regions considering trying or supporting this type of approach, and capitalizing on these two hopeful trends, the examples set by the finalists in the BBBRC offer some practical examples and insights to not only guide your work – but to provide us all with a glimpse of our nation’s economic future that is infused with hope, promise and vitality.
As our world navigates unprecedented economic change, the reverberations of a lingering pandemic, a renewed focus on racial justice, and the resurgence of a contest between democracy and tyranny, the United States needs to invest in every community across our country – now, arguably, more than ever.
As our world navigates unprecedented economic change, the reverberations of a lingering pandemic, a renewed focus on racial justice, and the resurgence of a contest between democracy and tyranny, the United States needs to invest in every community across our country – now, arguably, more than ever.
In many ways, we are in the midst of a split-screen moment. On one side of the screen, it’s a moment of high anxiety and existential doubt for far too many people and communities across our nation.
On the other side of the screen, however, there is a sense of energy and progress emerging and rolling across our nation. It is fueled by the potential and desire to build – community by community, region by region – a new wave of prosperity and vitality atop of a solid foundation of innovation, good jobs, and more equitable opportunity.
It is this reality that my colleagues and I at the nonprofit organization America Achieves are seeing and supporting in communities across this country. We do so by incubating and championing large-scale initiatives, and shaping and influencing the development of large-scale policy, across areas like education, workforce development and equitable, economic recovery. And we do so with the goal of improving opportunities and outcomes for all Americans in the places where they live and work.
A major part of our work this past year has been the incredible opportunity to be a part of a technical assistance (TA) coalition, which has provided support to the 60 Regional finalists in the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA’s) $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC). Last December, these 60 regions were named “finalists” from a pool of 529 applicants. Since then, these teams have built broad-based, creative and inclusive coalitions, composed of local, regional and state officials; businesses; colleges and universities; and nonprofit and entrepreneurial organizations, among others. These coalitions, like America Achieves, have focused their efforts on working with and supporting historically excluded communities, including rural areas; communities of color and indigenous communities; lower income communities; and those that have experienced significant distress in rural and urban geographies. People in these communities are too often the first and hardest hit by economic shifts or public health crises.
Through an opportunity provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the EDA, we – along with National League of Cities, the Nowak Lab, the Federation of American Scientists, and other partners and funders – have had a front-row seat and a supporting role as each of the regional clusters has begun the process of reimagining their local economies and building sustainable markets in certain industries grounded in innovation and good jobs. We saw 60 regions as diverse as our country build broad coalitions, anchor their efforts in regional assets that link to economically competitive sectors and center their approaches on ensuring historically excluded communities would benefit. This is not our grandparents’ economic development. Across all of these inspiring regions, we saw teams come together in new ways, leveraging regional assets and requiring a degree of openness, coordination, strategic planning, and alignment of otherwise disparate projects.
We saw regions seeking to pivot away from legacy and traditional industries to advanced and emerging sectors, while fostering small and minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs. Others sought to transition from carbon-based extraction to next-generation green economies with community colleges and K-12 partners at the table. And we saw regions that sought to develop whole new industries, such as advanced mobility or agricultural technology, by connecting university research with rural and native communities.
In the coming weeks, the EDA will award 20 to 30 of the 60 finalists implementation grants ranging from $25 to $100 million. Regardless of who is ultimately selected for the awards, we know, as Secretary Raimando has said, that all of these finalists are winners. They are building pathways to prosperity – jobs, opportunity and hope – that are truly extraordinary. Our goal is to work with our partners, including many of you, to continue to champion the finalists’ work and bring resources to bear so that all 60 visions can become a reality over time, charting a roadmap for bold and courageous inclusive economic growth for others to follow.
In a series of blog posts, my colleagues, partners, and I will share some of the inspiration and insights from what we have observed and learned, especially from the finalists themselves, as we continue to work with these visionary, practical leaders and builders of a new wave of local economic innovation and good jobs.
Our hope is that these reflections will prove helpful to those who are striving for economic reinvention in their communities and others seeking to learn from them. These include governors, mayors, county executives and other public officials; economic development professionals and local organizations across the country; other federal, state, and regional government agencies seeking to create or align public funding to these initiatives; and philanthropists, foundations and private investors contemplating the next generation of investments that will not only build competitive economic growth, but also equitable economic opportunities for communities nationwide.
As you read this post, and others that follow, please send me your questions, comments, and ideas. I encourage you to contact me at: communications@americaachieves.org. We look forward to providing you with some food for thought that might sustain you – as well as helping make it possible for many more communities and people to experience this well-founded hope for the future.
