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:

• Time intensive, one-on-one meetings to get to know applicants and the merits of their applications in a meaningful way

• Weekly office hours – a regular drumbeat where applicants could come for help, to brainstorm, or bounce ideas around

• A virtual convening in February 2022, bringing in a variety of national thought leaders

• A series of targeted webinars, covering topics identified as highest priority by finalists (reflected in the themes referenced in Jon’s blog post earlier this month)

• Asynchronous feedback opportunities to provide strategic guidance on the issues that were elevated throughout the process

• The development of a resource library that reflected the webinars we created, as well as case studies and tangible articles that were generated in response to finalists’ needs

• An in-person convening in June 2022 focused on building connections. Connections to each other, to federal agencies, to the Administration, philanthropic funders, and social impact investors, all in the spirit of laying the groundwork for even longer-term impact

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.

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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.

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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:

• Equity requires creating solutions that are tailored to each coalition partner and community being served.

• Legacies of inequity continue to affect communities in the present (not unlike the childhood filters I referenced earlier) and trust must be grown, and earned.

• Equality ≠ Equity.

• There is a path to equity, and it runs through equitable development, by which I mean building the capacity of stakeholders, surfacing and managing conflict, creating a process for communication and idea generation, and mutually agreed upon measures for success.

• To provide the appropriate solutions for each coalition member, an equitable development lens is an essential tool during the planning process.

• Recognizing and “equitizing” power dynamics, or decision makers and the voices that are valued in those decisions, is a key part of coalition-building and maintenance.

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.  

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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.

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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:

• Process: Who is at the table formulating plans and making decisions?

• Outcomes: Who benefits from investments?

• Data: How do we set ambitious goals and track progress toward them?

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.

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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!

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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?

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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.

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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.

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‍WHAT: A new report from America Achieves, in partnership with Rural Innovation Strategies Inc., examines the critical need for the development of a robust and diverse workforce with the skills to take on good jobs across the broadband industry – and outlines how states and territories can use new federal investments (and other dollars) to meet that important, time-sensitive goal, among others. The report is supported by Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt.

Notably, the report also includes an original broadband workforce analysis, prepared by Emsi Burning Glass and supported by America Achieves, that details national-level, critical broadband workforce occupations and their credential requirements, as well as a range of potential broadband career pathways for workers.

WHY: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law last year, allocated a one-time $42.5 billion  investment in broadband expansion through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Department of Commerce. The BEAD Program “provides federal funding for grants to Eligible Entities (states and territories) for broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption activities.” It prioritizes locations that are  unserved (no access to broadband at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps) and underserved (no access to service of at least 100/20 Mbps).

Last month NTIA issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the BEAD program. Of significant importance: the NOFO includes workforce development as a critical component of state plans and applications for funding. Without the workforce, broadband expansion projects (in the BEAD Program and beyond) may be long-term delayed or, worse, impossible to realize.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: States and territories that fail to develop plans to attract, train, and retain the necessary workforce risk losing access to billions of dollars in new, federal broadband investments, not to mention the risk of failing to connect the 20 to 40 million people without access to even low-grade broadband to high-speed internet.

HOW: The report is intended to serve as a playbook for states and territories as they complete applications and plans for the BEAD Program–and more generally as they ensure a skilled workforce that is deployed to make broadband access possible. It also details the ways other key stakeholders (such as employers, federal agencies, institutes of higher education, other training providers, intermediaries, and labor organizations) will need to play a critical role to develop the workforce necessary to expand broadband to all.

The report compiles and builds upon best practices from across the country–both in broadband expansion and workforce development, with broadband examples from states like Ohio, Vermont, and others, as well as sectoral training evidence from Harvard and more.

Highlighted in the report are six categories of important steps states and territories should consider taking to help ensure they have the broadband workforce they need. These steps are connected to corresponding recommendations and requirements for workforce development, as detailed in the NOFO. Those steps (detailed further in the report) are:

1. Appoint a broadband workforce director and staff and develop a broadband workforce strategic plan;
2. Convene employers and other key stakeholders to advance meaningful collaboration and mutual commitments;
3. Collect, analyze, and use current and needed broadband workforce data;
4. Identify additional funding sources that could be used for broadband workforce development;
5. Working with employers, build and scale evidence-based programs and practices with measurable job outcomes to train new and existing broadband workers; and
6. Recruit and grow a skilled diverse broadband workforce.

The report also emphasizes how any workforce plan for broadband must also be looking ahead to longer term broadband needs for states and territories, and should not solely focus just on how to meet the needs of the BEAD Program investments. Broadband is and will be a bigger endeavor than this historic investment.

EMPLOYER COMMITMENTS: Of critical importance throughout the report is how Eligible Entities bring employers, among other groups, to the table and work with them to create a broadband workforce development ecosystem that benefits employers, workers, and residents in need of broadband alike, bringing the country closer to the goal of high-speed internet access for all. Employer commitments can also help make a workforce strategy a success. Examples of employer commitments, as detailed in the report, include:

• Establishing contingent hiring goals;
• Reviewing and modifying HR policies to ensure inclusive practices;
• Helping form or support collaboratives/intermediaries to address and help coordinate shared workforce needs and provide technical assistance to employers;
• Engaging in a sector partnership to expand broadband career pathways and develop consistency across employers on needed hiring levels by type of job and skillset, job titles, required skills, certifications, and education levels;
• Partnering with local community colleges and other higher education and workforce providers;
• Providing easy-to-access scholarships and earn and learn opportunities to help individuals, particularly from low-income or underrepresented backgrounds; and
• Providing in-kind participation of senior leaders.

BROADBAND WORKFORCE DATA: The report also includes an original broadband workforce analysis, prepared by Emsi Burning Glass and supported by America Achieves. This research details national-level, critical broadband workforce occupations and their credential requirements, as well as pathways into (aka “feeder occupations”) and out of (aka “destination occupations” or “next step occupations”) those high-demand occupations in the broadband sector. The report recommends the development of career pathways to both help with recruitment and as a tool for workers in the sector. For example, for the position of Broadband/Satellite Technician (O*NET/CPS: “Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers”), the analysis found the following:

Feeder Occupations to “Broadband/Satellite Technician”Next Step Occupations from “Broadband/Satellite Technician”– Insulation Worker
– Television/Stateline
– Television InstallerTelemarketer– Electrical Substation/Relay Reparer
– Network/Systems Support Specialist
– Electrician
– Avionics Technician

While the new report calls for updated data analysis of the broadband workforce (existing workforce and projected needs) the 2021 data identified the top in-demand occupations in the broadband sector as follows:

1. Telecommunications equipment installers and repairers, except line installers
2. Telecommunications line installers and repairers
3. Electrical power-line installers and repairers
4. Electronics engineers, except computer
5. Radio, cellular and tower equipment installers and repairers
6. Helpers—installation, maintenance and repair workers

Research and conversations with nearly 40 stakeholder organizations has made clear that the country will need to grow and diversify the current broadband workforce, including by reengaging workers who have left the field, to meet the increase in broadband funding in the BEAD Program and beyond.

At present, the typical broadband worker is a prime-age (25 to 54 years old) non-Hispanic white male without a four-year college degree. Compared to the general workforce, broadband workers are more male, older, and have less formal education. The telecommunications sector is also struggling with a retiring workforce without enough new, younger workers coming in to replace them. As the Federal Communications Commission notes, “Telecommunications employees are aging and that could jeopardize the sector’s future. There are too few younger employees with sufficient experience to fill the positions within the telecom sector. Workforce turnover is an especially tricky issue for field operations.”

Larger investments in workforce training to create widespread, well-paid jobs are also incredibly popular – including broadband specifically. According to a 2021 Gallup poll, a strong bipartisan majority (93%) of the public supports a large-scale, ambitious plan to pay people to work and provide them with the skills needed for jobs of the future. Investing in broadband and its workforce has nearly 90% support from both sides of the aisle.

TO LEARN MORE: Read the full report here.

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With tens of millions of people from a range of backgrounds across the nation unable to access even low-grade broadband service, to say nothing of the information, health-care, and education available through those high-tech portals, President Biden last year signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and with it, a one-time, $42.45 billion investment that offered the prospect of expanding such service to unserved and underserved communities and regions.

But the hurdles to increasing broadband access across the nation cannot be vaulted – nor will the return on those historic federal investments ever be realized – if states and territories don’t take action now to ensure training and hiring tens of thousands of skilled workers to undertake those critical, broadband roles.

Last week, President Biden launched a “Talent Pipeline Challenge” at a White House roundtable, at which Jon Schnur, the CEO of the non-profit organization America Achieves, was among the participants. The challenge is meant to address workforce needs in broadband, among other sectors. On the heels of that announcement, America Achieves, in partnership with Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc., today announced the release of the first edition of a new broadband workforce report, supported by Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt.

Intended for states and territories, the playbook aligns closely with the workforce requirements detailed in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program at the U.S. Department of Commerce, as set forth in the IIJA. Indeed, states and territories that fail to account for workforce provisions in their plans risk losing access to that money. The Commerce Department’s requirements to include workforce–and enabling BEAD funding to support workforce development aligned to broadband needs – are crucial to help states and territories achieve their goals to ensure broadband access and deployment.

Entitled “Creating and Expanding a Diverse Broadband Workforce with Good Jobs and Career Pathways: Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program Playbook for Eligible Entities,” the report was developed with input from nearly 40 key stakeholder groups and is intended to serve as a helpful resource guide for states and territories as they complete applications and plans for the BEAD Program–and more generally as they ensure a skilled workforce that is deployed to make broadband access possible. Notably, the report:

• Outlines ways key stakeholders–including states, federal agencies, employers, , institutes of higher education, other training providers, intermediaries, and labor organizations–will need to play a critical role to develop the workforce necessary to expand broadband to all. The report recommends ix categories of important steps states and territories should consider taking:

1. Appoint a broadband workforce director and staff and develop a broadband workforce strategic plan;
2. Convene employers and other key stakeholders to advance meaningful collaboration and mutual commitments;
3. Collect, analyze, and use current and needed broadband workforce data;
4. Identify additional funding sources that could be used for broadband workforce development;
5. Working with employers, build and scale evidence-based programs and practices with measurable job outcomes to train new and existing broadband workers; and
6. Recruit and grow a skilled diverse broadband workforce.

• Includes an original analysis detailing national broadband workforce needs and career pathways, including feeder and next-step occupations, which can inform needed career pathways maps and published here for the first time, as prepared by Emsi Burning Glass and supported by America Achieves; and

• Launches what will be a suite of materials designed to support a range of stakeholders.

The report responds to the reality that the country likely does not have a large or diverse enough workforce skilled and deployed to make good on the new broadband investment without taking significant steps, including engaging unemployed and underemployed workers from this sector and adjacent sectors. With other infrastructure funding being released around the same time in an already tight labor market, there will likely be increased competition for workers, making forward thinking and advance planning essential.

The BEAD Program “provides federal funding for grants to Eligible Entities (states and territories) for broadband planning, deployment, mapping, equity, and adoption activities,” focusing on underserved and unserved areas. This investment comes at a time when nearly 20 million people (and perhaps as many as 40 million by some estimates) from a range of backgrounds lack access to even low-grade broadband service. (FCC maps coming out later this year will provide a more accurate count.) COVID-19 has made this crisis all the more urgent, as high-quality, high-speed internet has become essential for health, education, work, public safety, social connection, and more in an increasingly digital world.

Developing the broadband workforce necessary to deliver on this investment is a foundational first step for any state or territory that is looking to expand broadband. While states and territories may be at different points in their broadband expansion efforts, this report provides a resource for all applicants, regardless of their current status. Without the workforce, broadband projects, funded by the BEAD Program or otherwise, may be long-term delayed or, worse, impossible to realize, with workforce as a bottleneck issue.

America Achieves and its partners plan to stage and facilitate a series of virtual conversations partly anchored in the recommendations and findings of the report, at which a range of stakeholders will also be able to share their own best practices, feedback, and needs. Those discussions are expected to inform and augment future editions of the report. America Achieves also welcomes written feedback and comments to inform future editions of this report; any comments or interest in scheduling a conversation with our team can be sent to communications@americaachieves.org.

America Achieves commends this historic investment and the U.S. Department of Commerce for its inclusion of workforce development as a critical component for state plans and applications for BEAD Program funding.  America Achieves also thanks all of the stakeholders who provided insight for their important work that has helped shape the report.

The full report can be viewed here and a fact sheet can be viewed here.

“Universal and equitable access to high-speed internet is a crucial element of fair economic and life opportunity for everyone in our country. In tight labor markets, achieving this goal will be much harder to achieve without concerted action now to ensure a skilled, diverse workforce trained and deployed to do this work. Moreover, with a historic $42.5 billion investment coming from the U.S. Department of Commerce over the next few years, states and territories risk losing the opportunity to make this happen and access their share of this one-time funding unless they get this right.

– Jon Schnur, CEO, America Achieves

“States and territories have the opportunity to help thousands of people into great paying, lifelong careers in the telecom sector. But growing our broadband workforce is not just an opportunity – it is a necessity if we want to build broadband efficiently and effectively across the country. This report gives government leaders clear direction to get started on this critical issue as soon as possible.”

– Alex Kelley, Head of Broadband Consulting, Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc.

“To design workforce development programs that meet the needs of employers and job seekers, our research shows the importance of engaging employers as partners while also relying on labor market and other data. This resource reflects these important principles as part of a roadmap for building the nation’s broadband workforce and helping workers access good jobs and careers.”

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As school districts grapple with a widespread loss of learning time caused by the COVID-19 pandemic—and as they struggle with how best to spend an infusion of one-time federal funds to address it—a group of education leaders, philanthropists, researchers, and local leaders today announced the launch of Accelerate, a nonprofit organization that seeks to embed high-impact tutoring programs in public schools now and for the long term.

Accelerate will fund and support innovation in schools, launch high quality research, and build a federal and state policy agenda to support this work.

With achievement gaps particularly profound among historically underserved students and with research showing that high-impact tutoring can produce sizable gains, Accelerate today issued a Call to Effective Actionto recruit state education agencies, school districts, and tutoring providers, among others, to join the national effort. Those selected to participate will receive financial and operational support to design, implement, and scale tutoring strategies; join a national community in which they can share best practices and resources; and ultimately help inform Accelerate’s national research and policy agenda.

Incubated and launched by the nonprofit organization America Achieves, Accelerate will be led by Kevin Huffman, the former Tennessee commissioner of education, who will be the initiative’s chief executive officer. Dr. Janice K. Jackson, the chief executive officer of Hope Chicago (and former chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools), will serve as executive chair. Founding board members are Jackson; Dr. Susanna Loeb, the director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the National Student Support Acceleratorat Brown University; and Jon Schnur, the chief executive officer of America Achieves.

To date, America Achieves has raised $65 million for Accelerate toward a target of $100 million by next year. The initial support is being provided by Arnold Ventures; Kenneth C. Griffin, the chief executive officer of Citadel, who provided the first funding for the initiative; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and OverdeckFamily Foundation.

The lead research partners in Accelerate include the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown Universityand the University of Chicago.

Dr. Miguel Cardona, the U.S. Secretary of Education, said, “The evidence is clear: high-impact tutoring works, and I’ve urged our nation’s schools to provide every student who is struggling with extended access to an effective tutor.”

“The effort announced today—Accelerate—is a rallying cry to schools, districts, states, and others,” Cardona continued. “We must seize this moment to use federal relief funds to help students, including those most impacted by the pandemic, to close gaps in opportunity and achievement that grew even wider over the last two years. Together, we can ensure our elementary and secondary school students receive the supports they need to learn and grow.”

(See below for quotes from five former U.S. Secretaries of Education.)

Huffman, the Accelerate CEO, said: “States and districts are trying to address massive gaps in student outcomes, and they need stronger tools and better policies to help kids catch up. We know that high-impact tutoring can close academic gaps, but we need to develop cost-effective models that can be scaled and implemented in the years ahead. Education leaders are anxious for tools with a strong evidence base, and we are striving to build a research base and a practical toolkit that will help schools across the country.” Said Jackson: “Long-term, we want all students—and particularly the students with the greatest needs—to have free and regular access to high-impact tutoring and individualized learning. Our schools worked hard to narrow achievement gaps before the pandemic, but those gaps have now widened and must be addressed. We believe in the potential of all children, and we think it is our responsibility as adults working with public schools to provide tools that help them achieve their goals.”

Tutoring is generally defined as a form of teaching, one-on-one or in a small group, toward a specific goal. The National Student Support Accelerator, an initiative of the Annenberg Institute, defines high-impact tutoring programs as having “demonstrated significant gains in student learning through state-of-the-art research studies” or other “characteristics that have proven to accelerate student learning.” Among those characteristics: “substantial time” each week for required tutoring; “sustained and strong relationships” between student and tutor; “close monitoring” of student knowledge; alignment with school curriculum; and oversight of tutors to ensure “quality interactions.”

The pandemic has exacerbated existing inequities in American education, widening racial and economic gaps in learning. The nonprofit research organization NWEA, for example, has documented the toll of the first year of the pandemic on children, noting lower-than-normal math and reading levels for third through eighth graders this past fall.

At the same time, school districts are struggling with how best to spend billions in once-in-a-generation federal relief funding to accelerate student learning, as well as how to build models that are cost-effective and can be sustained once the federal funding runs out. School districts have already designated more than $1.7 billion in one-time funding for tutoring and coaching, a sum that is projected to grow to $3.6 billion by the time federal COVID relief aid to education expires in 2024, according to FutureEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. And 37 state education agencies have pledged to support tutoring with their share of federal relief monies, as demonstrated by a state-by-state analysis that also includes planned levels of funding.

In his State of the Union address in February, President Joe Biden urged Americans to “sign up to be a tutor or a mentor” in their local schools to “help students make up for lost learning.”

To learn more about Accelerate and the importance of high-impact tutoring, register to join a webinar featuring Sec. Cardona today at 2 p.m. ET and/or visit accelerate.us.

Quotes about Accelerate

“This ambitious, timely project is meeting the moment in K-12 education. The effort brings together academic researchers, education officials, policymakers, and service providers to expand access to high-quality tutoring services and to coordinate and support research. It also builds and disseminates rigorous evidence on which interventions, strategies, and policies help improve academic achievement for students.” – Laura and John Arnold, Founders and Co-Chairs, Arnold Ventures

“We need to accelerate learning for the millions of students who have fallen behind during the pandemic. I care deeply about addressing this urgent recovery challenge and helping America’s students realize their true potential. I am thankful so many people are committed to this undertaking, which is important for the future of our country.” – Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO, Citadel

“After the COVID-19 pandemic, high-impact tutoring offers students critical educational support, closing gaps in foundational learning. We remain committed to ensuring tutoring interventions are cost-effective, so they can be scalable and sustainable in order to have meaningful long-term impact.” – John Overdeck, President, Overdeck Family Foundation

“We have decades of research showing that high-impact tutoring can help students recover from the unfinished learning they experienced—especially our most vulnerable and underserved children and young people. Accelerate will help school systems, states, and non-profits take action—equipped with funding, support, technical assistance, and partnership with a community of best practice. I encourage school districts, states, and nonprofits to respond to Accelerate’s Call to Effective Action.” – John B. King Jr., Former U.S. Secretary of Education

“I am excited to see a highly successful, student-centered superintendent and state commissioner come together to lead this work. Janice Jackson led significant academic innovations in Chicago and brings two decades of experience working successfully with high-need students. Kevin Huffman led the largest state academic gains in the country, working with both rural and urban districts. Their leadership will be critical to the initiative.” – Arne Duncan, Former U.S. Secretary of Education

“While every schoolhouse in the nation was upended by COVID-19, students who have long been marginalized by virtue of their race or income have been hit the hardest. Accelerate will serve as a clearinghouse of evidence-based practices for how tutoring and other interventions can close gaps in achievement and equity—and do so in close coordination with public school teachers and school administrators. This initiative will provide a roadmap and support to local, regional, and state education leaders seeking to advance student outcomes in the near term and long term.” – Margaret Spellings, Former U.S. Secretary of Education

“As we work together to help students and families regain lost ground academically, we have to make sure that we are spending our time and public resources on strategies that work. I am excited about the potential of Accelerate to discern and scale evidence-based practices that help students learn more while pushing for policies that help ensure all students have access to quality learning.” – Rod Paige, Former U.S. Secretary of Education

“To improve education for all, everyone has a role to play—including parents, teachers, students, and tutors from a wide variety of backgrounds. When tutoring is done right, it can be a game-changer for children and young people. That’s particularly true for students who were already lagging before the pandemic disrupted our nation’s classrooms—and who suffered the most from significant instructional loss over the past two years. Quality tutoring takes place one on one or in very small groups, takes place multiple times weekly, and is aligned with a challenging curriculum being taught in class. Accelerate will help states, school districts, and nonprofit organizations offer high-quality tutoring to benefit students right now who need the help—and help lay a foundation for long-term success for all of America’s children. This important effort will provide funding, know-how, and other support as these groups design effective tutoring strategies and aim to make effective use of one-time federal funding.” – Richard Riley, Former U.S. Secretary of Education

“This new organization fills a great need, not only, in the moment, to expand high-impact tutoring—the most promising approach that we’ve seen in research to address pandemic-related learning needs—but also to make sure, through funding research and advocating for policy change, that we can sustain and improve high-impact tutoring so that all students have access to a skilled and caring adult who knows them and helps them thrive.” – Dr. Susanna Loeb, Director, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the National Student Support

Accelerator at Brown University

“In an increasingly globalized economy, our country and our communities can’t be competitive and sustainable without leveraging the talent of our young people from every background — including the one in two public school students in the U.S. who are low-income and the nearly 50 percent who are people of color. High-impact tutoring is one of the few practices proven to help students substantially accelerate their learning in the near-term – and lay the foundation for their long-term contributions to our communities. We are pleased at America Achieves to incubate and launch Accelerate in order to help educators, tutors, students, communities, and parents make these evidence-based practices happen across the country.” – Jon Schnur, CEO, America Achieves

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The nonprofit organization America Achieves announced today the release of a policy playbook from its State Recovery Now initiative. The playbook provides state and local governments with innovative, step-by-step strategies for offering people effective pathways to good careers and for helping employers fill in-demand jobs – all grounded in a strong evidence base.

Titled Employing Residents in High-Demand Careers: An Evidence-Based Good Jobs-Driven Approach, the playbook is the first in what will be a suite of action-oriented resources. The detailed guide is intended to support states, counties, and cities as they consider how best to allocate and implement hundreds of billions in state and local economic aid that is now available for spending from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) enacted last year.

America Achieves is a national nonprofit organization that incubates, studies, and scales programs and policy innovations to advance equitable access to training, education and economic opportunity. State Recovery Now is an initiative of America Achieves that is building a hub of resources for state and local leaders to access the blueprints, technical assistance, and other support they need to create better outcomes for people across the nation by promoting a sustainable and equitable economic recovery. America Achieves launched the bipartisan State Recovery Now initiative in 2020.  

Specifically, this initial guide details options for how state and local governments can build a system to match  workers to – and then help them maintain – good jobs in well-paying, high-demand fields by:

• Establishing an employer demand-driven workforce scholarship program that includes funding for:
  • Program tuition in evidence-based job training connected to real, good jobs;
  • Career coaching programs; and
  • Essential wraparound supports, such as guidance counseling, transportation, and child care costs.
• Setting up an evaluation system to determine the impact of programs on good job attainment and wage gains, as well as to assess the quality of job training, counseling, and career coaching programs.  This evaluation system would also be used to inform improvement and better empower participants to make educated enrollment decisions.

While a high school degree once served as a ticket to a middle class lifestyle, most good jobs now require education beyond high school. With only one third of the adult U.S. population going on to obtain a college degree, the importance of alternative post-secondary credentials, such as vocational or technical education, has never been greater. These alternative credentials are often overlooked and undervalued, but can be critical pathways to well-paying jobs in our modern economy. Too often communities lack a comprehensive strategy to help workers gain the skills and support needed for a well-paying, family-supporting career. This playbook can help build and execute a strategy to create a good jobs economy.

Jon Schnur, the chief executive officer of America Achieves, said: “As states and communities work to rebuild after the devastation of the pandemic, it is crucial to help fill in-demand jobs and and offer people pathways to attain good jobs and economic mobility – including by leveraging existing skills, and building new ones. This guide offers practical, evidence-based strategies that states and communities can use right now to address these challenges and build a good jobs economy for everyone.”

Bill Ferguson, the founding project lead for America Achieves’ State Recovery Now initiative added: “State and local leaders are facing an unprecedented moment in time in recovery as they attempt to lead efforts to emerge on the other side of a once-in-100-year pandemic. Building a stronger, more resilient, and more competitive workforce in their jurisdictions is central to every state and local leaders’ recovery agenda. The Good Jobs-Driven Approach playbook provides an outline for leaders to incorporate as they deploy historic federal resources to retool workforce pathways in their states and local jurisdictions.”  

Outside of America Achieves, Ferguson also serves as a state senator for Maryland’s 46th Legislative District and as the President of the Senate of Maryland.

Last year, Gallup found that a strong, bipartisan majority (93%) of the public supports a large-scale, ambitious plan to pay people to work and provide them with the skills needed for jobs of the future. This comes at a time when employers competing in the modern global economy face an unmet need for diverse pipelines of skilled workers, especially in high-demand sectors. This need is only expected to grow with the recent passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Meanwhile, workers want good jobs that offer a livable wage, but face too many barriers to attaining the necessary skills and credentials. State Recovery Now’s new evidence-based, good jobs-driven playbook can help workers, employers, and governments alike align to create a fair and equitable economic recovery that works for everyone.

America Achieves is grateful to its partner Delivery Associates, led by CEO Nick Rodriguez, for their project support.

The full playbook can be found here. A two-page summary of the playbook can be found here. For questions or to request a briefing, contact: communications@americaachieves.org

Other Quotes on Employing Residents in High-Demand Careers:

An Evidence-Based, Good Jobs-Driven Approach

“Workforce development is critical to our nation’s economic recovery, particularly as millions of job vacancies continue to go unfilled. As a former governor, I appreciate the policy playbook outlining some of the best practices across the country for job training programs, including providing supportive services like transportation and child care. I like to quote a friend who says, ‘Find out what works, and do more of that.’ This policy playbook could very well serve as a guide to other states and communities to help prepare more Americans for better-paying jobs. By weaving together what works and removing the barriers that too many individuals face, we can build a more nurturing environment for job creation.”

– Senator Tom Carper, U.S. Senator for Delaware

“The new playbook from America Achieves’ State Recovery Now initiative provides a clear and actionable roadmap for policymakers, communities, employers and workforce organizations to work together to advance innovations and efforts to achieve not only a more inclusive economy but a more equitable society.”

– Maurice A. Jones, Chief Executive Officer, OneTen

“With clear, detailed action steps, America Achieves’ playbook offers comprehensive ways that states, communities and nonprofit organizations can create new pathways for employers and job-seekers alike — and to do so right now. With our commitment to providing Hoosiers with free training in high-growth, in-demand fields and to incentivizing employers to make that training easily available, we are pleased that Next Level Jobs Indiana is featured in this new playbook from America Achieves’ State Recovery Now project.”

– Teresa Lubbers, Commissioner for Higher Education, Indiana Commission for Higher Education

“The skills training I received through Back to Work Rhode Island absolutely changed my life. I can only imagine what it would do for other people if government leaders really put their foot forward to build more programs like these — and the new playbook from America Achieves and State Recovery Now would make that possible. If I was trying to encourage a government leader to invest in more programs like these, I would tell them: We have two hands. One to help ourselves and one to help others.”

— Craig Garner, participant in Back to Work Rhode Island

“This latest playbook from State Recovery Now can be instrumental in advancing 21st century workforce development and ensuring an equitable recovery across America, but only if state and local governments have the courage to commit to a new, intentional approach. We must urgently shift investment into proven programs that work – ones that are evidence-based and high-quality programs, building careers in high-paying, high-growth fields, such as technology. These programs are scalable, changing lives and our national economy along the way. It’s one of the best ways we can ensure workers gain the skills needed for well-paying, family-sustaining careers.”

– Plinio Ayala, President and CEO, Per Scholas

“The State Recovery Now Playbook provides a practical and evidence-based roadmap for solving one of the greatest challenges facing our nation- the education and skilling of our people.  While federal student financial aid policy and workforce training policy has accomplished much in the last few decades, the world around us is changing rapidly and too many Americans have been left behind. This work is the right direction just when our nation needed it the most.”

– Monty Sullivan, System President, Rebuilding America’s Middle Class (RAMC): A Coalition of Community Colleges

“The global pandemic has caused a massive loss of jobs that may never come back. Marginalized communities such as Black, LatinX, and women are especially being affected by these economic hardships. As communities work to recover, an emphasis must be made on launching people into jobs of the future quickly. The work we do at Generation USA and the information in this playbook can help those communities find a sustainable path forward.”

– Richard Clemmons, Chief Operating Officer, Generation USA

“Workforce systems too frequently fall short in providing the tools needed by jobseekers to secure good-paying, rewarding employment: from failing to address common financial shortfalls faced by adults with low incomes that serve as barriers to succeeding in many training programs, to little accountability on the labor market outcomes of publicly funded training programs. The Markle Foundation works to advance strategies that overcome these and other critical issues, with the aim of realizing an equitable workforce, higher education, and training system that expands economic security and mobility for all. This playbook provides a valuable roadmap for policymakers to capitalize on the moment to establish dynamic, results-oriented systems that empower workers.”

– Maya Goodwin, Senior Manager for Policy, Markle Foundation

“By pairing employer-driven job training with wraparound support services, the Back to Work Rhode Island initiative has helped eliminate barriers to employment for those seeking new career opportunities in the wake of COVID-19. We are pleased to share our insights with other states and hope that this work can serve as a model for creating a more equitable recovery.”

– Matthew Weldon, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training

“Forward Delaware is a great example of the Delaware Department of Labor’s leadership and collaborative efforts with various workforce agencies and partners in ramping up successful industry recognized training programs for Delawareans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a program that embodies what healthy public-private partnerships can accomplish to help local communities and job seekers.”

– Richard Fernandes, Director of Employment and Training, Delaware Department of Labor

“It’s incumbent on policymakers, training providers, and employers to build a workforce system that’s both more effective and more equitable than the one we had before the pandemic. That starts by measuring the outcomes that actually matter to job-seekers. We urge all providers and members of the workforce community to adopt the playbook’s recommendations to join us in setting new standards of transparency and efficacy.”

– Rebecca Taber and Connor Diemand-Yauman, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs, Merit America

“The American Recovery Plan (ARP) provides much-needed investment in economic growth and resilience, especially in broadband capacity that is vital to ensuring equitable access to our critical digital infrastructure. As we carry out this mission, the one thing we can’t afford is delay. These playbooks will provide a clear roadmap for states and municipalities to follow.”

– Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO, The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA)

“By more effectively distributing state-level funding according to evidence-based best practices, state leaders would have more leverage to scale and adapt proven, impactful approaches and programs like Year Up. The result would be very positive in terms of helping local employers meet their workforce needs and in connecting more young adults in need of an opportunity with these companies. Last year, an independent evaluation of Year Up showed that every $1.00 invested in our program results in a gain of $1.66 to society — it’s an investment that benefits young people, their communities, corporations and the broader economy.”

– Gerald Chertavian, Founder and CEO, Year Up

“We know more than ever before about what strategies work to help Americans prepare for, secure and retain good jobs. A key part of that plan includes recognizing the realities of people’s lives and offering supportive services to break down the barriers that prevent them from succeeding – including making those benefits easy to access. With this playbook in hand, more states and communities help empower employers and workers alike to build a strong good jobs economy.

– Joanna Mikulski, Chief Federal Policy and Data Officer, America Achieves

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