Join us for the next episode of State of Our Workforce where we will continue our series on the Anthropology of Work. The National Fund will host its premier, biennial convening SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future in Memphis, TN, September 24-26. We are so excited to dig deeper on workforce equity, systems change, job quality, and more.

We are excited to be joined by Hollie Marston, Network Director at the National Fund, to talk about what you can expect at SHIFT this year. Hollie and the National Fund team have been hard at work putting together a learning agenda that will help us amplify voices that need to be heard, activate new solutions to persistent problems, and accelerate change needed to achieve an equitable workforce. Plus, we'll have a very special announcement about September's State of Our Workforce.

Tune in to learn about SHIFT and more!

On this episode of State of Our Workforce, we continue our series on the Anthropology of Work and celebrate Pride Month. We dig into how employers can create safe, equitable environments for LGBTQ+ employees and allow people to thrive authentically.

We are excited to be joined by Janell Thomas, founder of My CoLab Partners, who shared her insights on building and sustaining inclusive workplaces. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn how to support LGBTQ+ workers and ensure your workplace is a space where everyone can thrive.

Learn more about My CoLab Partners here: https://www.mycolabpartners.com/

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country.This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning, Michelle Wilson Ed.D, is joined by National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage, for a conversation about Workforce Development Month, the ongoing work at the National Fund, and a special announcement!

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country.

This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning, Michelle Wilson Ed.D, is joined by her National Fund colleagues Carrie Felton, director of worker success, and Tom Strong, director of employer activation, for a conversation about the ongoing work throughout the network to dismantle occupational segregation.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions will take a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning, Michelle Wilson Ed.D, is joined by Kerry McKittrick, Associate Director of the Project on Workforce at the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, for a conversation about career navigation.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions will take a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Director of Systems Change, Ricardo Henriquez, is joined by Ranita Jain, Senior Associate, Center for Economic Opportunity at The Annie E. Casey Foundation for a conversation about how we're working together to shift the way private and public workforce systems prepare and support young adults in jobs and careers.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions will take a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning Michelle Wilson is joined by Linda Dworak, director of the Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative for a conversation about changing systems for workforce equity in Baltimore.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Network Director Hollie Marston is joined by Aimee Durfee, Director of Workforce Innovation at CenterState CEO, to discuss the state of women in the workforce.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning Michelle Wilson, Ed.D is joined by Earl Buford, president of CAEL and a member of the National Fund Board of Directors, to discuss the state of workforce equity.

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development.This month, National Fund Director of Worker Success Carrie Felton is joined by our partners in Greensboro, North Carolina — Meredith Berger and Brian Norris of the Triad Workforce Solutions Collaborative and Ann Flynt from Guilford Apprenticeship Partners — to talk about National Apprenticeship Week.

The State of Our Workforce: Where are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Hollie Marston, network director at the National Fund, for a conversation about the National Fund's upcoming convening, SHIFT The Future of Workforce. https://shift.nationalfund.org/

The State of Our Workforce: Where are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. his month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Kermit Kaleba, strategy director for employer aligned programs at Lumina Foundation, for a conversation about skills-based hiring and community colleges.

We are excited to continue our conversation about the Anthropology of Work on State of Our Workforce. This month, in recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we are so excited to be joined by Josie Howard, CEO of We Are Oceania for a conversation about her organization's work to empower the Micronesian population in Hawai'i.

Join us as we delve into the complexities of Micronesian employment in Hawai'i's diverse cultural landscape. Learn about some of the transformative initiatives spearheaded by We Are Oceania aimed at empowering Micronesian communities while preserving their rich heritage. Discover how these efforts are shaping a more inclusive and prosperous future for Micronesian migrants in the melting pot of cultures in the Aloha State.

Learn more about We Are Oceania at their website: https://www.weareoceania.org/

The State of Our Workforce: Where are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, guest host Tom Strong, director of employer activation at the National Fund, is joined by Angela Carr Klitzsch, president and CEO of EmployIndy, for a discussion on youth employment.

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by her colleague Michelle Wilson Ed.D, director of evaluation and learning, for a conversation about the newly released Workforce Equity Dashboard. Explore the Dashboard: https://nationalfund.org/workforce-equity-dashboard/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Matt Bruce, executive director of the Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance, for a conversation about mental health and the workplace.

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Rob Hope, director of ReWork the Bay, for a conversation about the recently released "The State of Bay Area Workers" data tool. Explore the tool: https://reworkthebay.org/9-county-bay-area/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Bishara Addison, director of job placement at the Fund for Our Economic Future, for a conversation on women in the workforce.

• Anecdotes and Evidence: https://www.thefundneo.org/anecdotes-and-evidence-a-national-scan-of-worker-shortage-analyses/
• Where Are the Workers: https://www.thefundneo.org/watw/
• Federal Reserve: https://www.clevelandfed.org/publications/economic-commentary/2021/ec-202123-whats-holding-back-employment-in-the-recovery-from-the-covid19-pandemic
• Starting Point: http://www.starting-point.org/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Tom Strong, director of employer activation at the National Fund, as they dig into the latest jobs numbers and a new tool employers can use to improve the quality of their jobs.Job Quality Outcome Maps: https://nationalfund.org/our-resources/publications/job-quality-outcome-maps/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund Director of Employer Activation Tom Strong is joined by Hollie Marston, network director at the National Fund. The discussion covers the way the National Fund network is implementing local, place-based solutions to the labor market challenges across the nation.

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Carrie Felton, director of worker success at the National Fund. They discuss how workforce actors can use the opportunity of funding from the new infrastructure bill to make real change for people and communities of color through intentional apprenticeships. You can watch the video Amanda recommended about our partners in Syracuse here: Planning for People: Opportunity and Regional Development in Syracuse, NY

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Tom Strong, director of employer activation at the National Fund, to discuss The Great Resignation, what's holding back economic growth right now, and how employers need to listen to their workers, now more then ever. Plus, learn how businesses are finding creative solutions to support the workers they have. Read about our Frontline Forward featured employers: https://nationalfund.org/frontline-forward/Explore the latest version of our Job Design Framework, which has a new section focused on worker voice: https://nationalfund.org/job-design-framework/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Bryan Lindsley, director of systems change at the National Fund, to discuss systems thinking and the many factors that affect unemployment and jobs numbers. UPDATE: Toolbox for the Systems Change Mindset is out now! https://nationalfund.org/systems-change-toolbox/Paradox Prize: https://paradoxprize.com/ For more insights from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, please visit our blog: https://nationalfund.org/news/blog/

We are excited to continue our conversation about the Anthropology of Work on State of Our Workforce. This month, special guest host Carrie Felton, director of worker success at the National Fund, will be joined by Andrea Valencia and Anabelle Garay from Linguaficient to explore the critical topic of language justice and its pivotal role in fostering equity within our workforce.

From dismantling language barriers to empowering marginalized communities, we unpack the significance of linguistic inclusivity in shaping a fairer and more accessible professional landscape. Tune in as we explore the transformative power of language and its profound impact on building a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

Learn more about Linguaficient here: https://www.linguaficient.com/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Kelly Aiken, chief program officer at the National Fund, to discuss the collective trauma we've all experienced over the past year and the impact it can have on the workplace. A Trauma-Informed Approach to Workforce: https://nationalfund.org/our-resources/publications/a-trauma-informed-approach-to-workforce/Frontline Forward: https://nationalfund.org/frontline-forward/For more insights from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, please visit our blog. https://nationalfund.org/news/blog/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Michelle Wilson Ed.D, director of evaluation and learning at the National Fund, to discuss the state of equity in our workforce and the release of Advancing Workforce Equity Guide for Stakeholders. Advancing Workforce Equity Guide for Stakeholders: https://nationalfund.org/workforce-equity-guide/For more insights from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, please visit our blog. https://nationalfund.org/news/blog/

The State of Our Workforce: Where Are We Now? goes beyond Department of Labor employment and jobs numbers to explore issues at the forefront of workforce development. Is there actually a labor shortage? What's holding people back from entering the workforce? This month, National Fund President and CEO Amanda Cage is joined by Tom Strong, director of employer activation at the National Fund, to discuss trends in the labor market, especially in the service sector. For more insights from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, please visit our blog. https://nationalfund.org/news/blog/

We continue to explore the anthropology of work on State of Our Workforce. We're very excited to recognize Women's History Month and discuss the ongoing negotiations around the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) in Congress.

Discover how the WIOA reauthorization could reshape the landscape of workforce development and what it means for women across industries in an era of rapid change. Katie Spiker, the Managing Director of Government Affairs at the National Skills Coalition, will share her expert insights on policy advancements, skill-building opportunities, and strategies to enhance women's representation and success in the workforce.

Read the NSC's report Unprecedented Opportunity: Meeting the Workforce Demands of New Clean Energy, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure Investments here: https://nationalskillscoalition.org/resource/publications/data-infrastructure-investments/

Welcome to the new season of State of Our Workforce! This year, our conversations will center on the Anthropology of Work. (Check out our mini-episode to learn more.)

In recognizing Black History Month, we are joined by Dr. Angela Jackson, founder of Future Forward, and Dr. Rachel Watkins, professor of anthropology at American University, for a conversation about the history of research and the way it influences us now, with a specific look at its impact in the field of workforce development and how that has affected workers, especially Black workers.

Follow the National Fund on LinkedIn to watch live recordings of State of Our Workforce every month.

Michelle Wilson takes on the role of guest to discuss the upcoming year on State of Our Workforce. She explores the "Anthropology of Work" and the conversations, ideas, and guests that will help everyone learn more about this exciting topic.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country.

This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning, Michelle Wilson Ed.D, is joined by National Fund Program Manager Melissa Kleder for a conversation about the 2023 CareerSTAT Frontline Healthcare Worker Champions and the importance of investing in job quality and racial equity for frontline workers.

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning, Michelle Wilson Ed.D is joined by Abbie Langston, vice president of research at PolicyLink, and Joan Chase, senior director for strategic initiatives at Fund for Our Economic Future, for a conversation about new tools for advancing workforce equity.

• Where Matters: https://wherematters.us/
• Workforce Equity Dashboard: https://nationalfund.org/workforce-equity-dashboard/
• National Equity Atlas: https://nationalequityatlas.org/

Each month, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions takes a deeper dive into the diverse, innovative, and effective workforce solutions its network is adopting to address local challenges across the country. This month, National Fund Director of Evaluation and Learning, Michelle Wilson Ed.D, is joined by Anne Kandilis, director of Springfield WORKS for a conversation about how she has been able to take learning from the network and apply it locally in Springfield.

On this episode of State of Our Workforce we continue our series on the Anthropology of Work. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we explore the systemic barriers Native American workers face and the strategies needed to build a more inclusive workforce.

We are excited to be joined by Natasha Hale, Project Lead for Workforce Grantmaking in Native Nations and Communities at Workforce Matters, who will share insights into the cultural, economic, and historical contexts shaping Native workforce inclusion today. Explore what it means to close the equity gap, creating pathways to opportunity and resilience for Indigenous communities across the nation.

Supporting Native Workforce Development: A Guide for Funders

This is the third of three conversations we hosted LIVE from the National Fund's premier, biennial convening, SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future.

A large part of our work at the National Fund is identifying ways in which we use our national platform to drive regional change on issues such as occupational segregation.

As part of that work, we identified career navigation as one such lever. We believe that it must be addressed at a systems level because the impact of occupational segregation goes beyond the worker. It impacts every facet of the workforce ecosystem from companies, education, human welfare, generational wealth opportunities, cities, towns and states because we know that inequities in our systems costs us in a myriad ways. So, we decided to take a deep dive into career navigation to identify opportunities to better support equitable opportunities for all. Today we'll be talking with some of our amazing collaborators who participated in this work.

In this conversation, Michelle Wilson and special guest host Juvilee Hernandez talk to a couple of employers and an educator. They occupy a really unique space in the workforce ecosystem and were also named as mentors by our participants during our research. We were excited to be joined by: Clifton Phelps, co-owner of JCP Construction, a Black-owned construction company in Milwaukee; Anita Andrews-Hutchinson, the co-founder of a network of Black-led early learning centers in Chicago; and Dave Mullins, the Director of the Business and Industry Institute at Hutchinson Community College, who also works in a very unique space as a community college educator who dedicates time with justice-involved individuals.

This is the second of three conversations we hosted LIVE from the National Fund's premier, biennial convening, SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future.

A large part of our work at the National Fund is identifying ways in which we use our national platform to drive regional change on issues such as occupational segregation.

As part of that work, we identified career navigation as one such lever. We believe that it must be addressed at a systems level because the impact of occupational segregation goes beyond the worker. It impacts every facet of the workforce ecosystem from companies, education, human welfare, generational wealth opportunities, cities, towns and states because we know that inequities in our systems costs us in a myriad ways. So, we decided to take a deep dive into career navigation to identify opportunities to better support equitable opportunities for all. Today we'll be talking with some of our amazing collaborators who participated in this work.

This conversation focuses on mid-career professionals who were forced to make unexpected shifts. We met these folks last summer during our Career Navigation interviews. We were excited to be joined by: Brianna Rogers, Initiative Officer at ReWork the Bay; Andrew Shepherd, Senior Pipeline Technician at Northern Natural Gas; Tracy Carson, Project Manager at JCP Construction; and Shay Rainey, Project Manager at AYR Wellness.

This is the first of three conversations we hosted LIVE from the National Fund's premier, biennial convening, SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future.

A large part of our work at the National Fund is identifying ways in which we use our national platform to drive regional change on issues such as occupational segregation.

As part of that work, we identified career navigation as one such lever. We believe that it must be addressed at a systems level because the impact of occupational segregation goes beyond the worker. It impacts every facet of the workforce ecosystem from companies, education, human welfare, generational wealth opportunities, cities, towns and states because we know that inequities in our systems costs us in a myriad ways. So, we decided to take a deep dive into career navigation to identify opportunities to better support equitable opportunities for all. Today we'll be talking with some of our amazing collaborators who participated in this work.

This conversation focuses on young people who are just starting out in their careers. We met these folks last summer during our Career Navigation interviews. We were excited to be joined by: Juvilee Hernandez from Chicago where she is a youth organizer at Northwest Center; Reginald Bridges is also from Chicago, and he's an assistant kindergarten teacher with It Takes a Village early learning center; and Kayla White, an IT worker in Birmingham, who is also currently working as an intern with AlabamaWorks!.

In our final episode of State of Our Workforce in 2024 we close out our series on the Anthropology of Work. We are joined by National Fund Chief Program Officer Michelle Rafferty to reflect on a year filled with milestones and progress. Michelle recounts key achievements from 2024 and shares an inspiring vision for the future of workforce equity.

In this special mini-episode, we’re excited to introduce a brand-new addition to our podcast channel: State of Our Workforce: Unpacked. Michelle Wilson sits down with Henry Danner for a quick conversation about what listeners can expect from this new LinkedIn Live series.

Unpacked takes the national conversations from State of Our Workforce and brings them to the ground level—spotlighting how workforce equity shows up in communities across our network. It’s where our “Nationally Powered, Locally Driven” ethos comes to life.

Tune in for a behind-the-scenes look at why we created this new series, what stories we’ll be telling, and how you can be part of the conversation.

The year 2025 marks a momentous anniversary at the National Fund. It has been five years since the Advancing Workforce Equity project got off the ground, in which we dug into the root causes of inequities using deeply disaggregated data. This project was extremely impactful for the National Fund and our network partners and has been essential in our direction since then.

We are joined by three key collaborators who worked on this project at that time. Vice President of Research at PolicyLink; Sarah Treuhaft, Director of Policy and Partnerships at The Institute on Race and the Political Economy at the New School; and Jonathan Osei, Workforce Development Fellow at the Project for Pride in Living.

The four of us will take a journey back five years and consider what it was like to begin the difficult, messy work of equity at a time when equity was still a “dirty word.” We consider the lasting impact of our work and how we can continue to move it forward now to create a truly equitable economy where all workers, businesses, and communities are thriving.

Read the Advancing Workforce Equity Reports here: https://nationalfund.org/advancing-workforce-equity-reports/

Welcome to State of Our Workforce: Unpacked, where where we will dig deeper into the incredibly impactful work our Network Partners are doing across the country. In this inaugural episode, National Fund Network Manager, Henry Danner, will be joined by LorMona Meredith and Matt Stevens of the Hawaiʻi Workforce Funders Collaborative to explore their recent report, "From Crisis to Opportunity: Building Hawaiʻi’s Workforce Resilience."

Together, we'll unpack the challenges facing Hawaiʻi's workforce and the bold, collaborative solutions needed to create a more equitable and resilient future. From policy shifts to community-driven strategies, this conversation will highlight the critical actions that can turn today’s challenges into lasting opportunities for workers and businesses across the state.

• From Crisis to Opportunity: Building Hawaiʻi’s Workforce Resilience
• A Good Job in Hawaiʻi” Framework

In this episode, we’re digging into a powerful shift that’s gaining momentum across industries: skills-based hiring. For too long, traditional hiring practices have relied on degrees as a proxy for talent—reinforcing occupational segregation and shutting out millions of capable workers.

But what if we reimagined hiring to focus on what people can do, not just where or if they went to school?

Joining us on this episode is Audrey Mickahail, Senior Vice President of Private Sector and Membership Experience at Opportunity@Work. Together, we’ll explore how skills-based hiring can create more inclusive career pathways, break down systemic barriers, and help employers access a deeper, more diverse talent pool.

We’ll talk about who STARs are—and why they matter. We’ll discuss some of the changes employers need to make and the systemic barriers we can begin to dismantle when we center skills in hiring and advancement.

What does the future of work really look like—and who is it for? In this episode, we talk with Chike Aguh, senior advisor at Harvard’s Project on Workforce, about what it takes to build a future of work that delivers not just innovation, but inclusion, equity, and economic mobility. Chike brings a rare blend of policy insight and on-the-ground experience to big questions shaping our economy: How do we ensure that every person can connect to meaningful work? What does real job quality look like in an age of AI? And how can we turn systemic into a springboard for opportunity? As we navigate an uncertain landscape, one truth remains clear—people are the only path.

The childcare industry is in crisis. In Central Iowa, like much of the country, families struggle to find affordable, reliable care, and the educators who provide that care are often overworked, underpaid, and under-supported. It’s a system that leaves everyone losing—parents without options, children without consistent caregivers, and workers without a path to stability.

But what if improving job quality for childcare providers was the key to fixing it? In this episode, we sit down with Michelle Seibert, formerly of the United Way of Central Iowa to unpack how her community is approaching this challenge. By focusing on job quality—better pay, support for self-employed providers, and stronger policies—they’re working to fix childcare from the inside out. Tune in to learn what they’re trying, what’s working, and why it could be a game changer.

The childcare crisis isn’t just about affordability—it’s about job quality. With nearly half of working parents forced out of jobs due to unstable and unaffordable childcare, the ripple effects touch every part of our economy. At the same time, childcare workers—disproportionately women and people of color—struggle with low wages, high credentialing barriers, and limited support. In this episode, we’re joined by Amy O’Leary executive director of Strategies for Children, Gloria Valentin, a family childcare educator, and Stephanie LaPierre a childcare educator at Boston University Children’s Center to explore what’s really at stake and why improving job quality is key to helping both families and providers thrive.

Learn more about the National Fund's childcare initiative, Shifting the Childcare Industry: Better Jobs for Better Access.

Explore the National Fund's Early Childcare Worker Career Navigation Journey Map.

Learn more about Strategies for Children.

Dallas is growing fast, but a shortage of skilled workers in construction is slowing down progress. What does it take to build a skilled, diverse workforce to meet the needs of this booming industry?

In this episode of State of Our Workforce: Unpacked, we are joined by Catlin Hale, Director of Career Pathways at the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, to discuss how Pathways to Work’s Construction Partnership aligns training programs with industry needs. We’ll explore how that work is creating access to high-quality training and living-wage jobs, and the impact of industry partnerships on local workforce resilience.

Pathways to Work

Career Navigation Journey Maps: Black Construction Workers

Advancing Workforce Equity in Energy and Infrastructure Jobs

Too many people, especially young people, people of color, and those in lower-income communities, struggle to find and keep good jobs due to barriers like lack of childcare, poor transportation, and limited access to training or support. The system isn't broken. It was built this way.

In this episode, we talk with Marjorie Parker, President and CEO of JobsFirstNYC, about how unfair systems, not personal choices, create and reinforce barriers that make it harder for people to succeed in the workforce. We discuss how to address those barriers by changing policies, building local partnerships, and designing workforce programs that actually meet people’s real needs. Because when we rebuild the system the right way, we don’t just help individuals, we strengthen communities, businesses, and the entire economy.

Online But Disconnected

The Dark Truth Behind Personality Test - HBO/Max

What happens when you center Black men—not as problems to be solved, but as experts in their own experience? In this episode of Unpacked, we speak with leaders behind the new report Breaking the Chains, which challenges the systemic roots of economic exclusion and highlights the ingenuity and resilience of Black men in Chicago.

Guests Matthew Bruce, Dr. Clinton Boyd, Jr., and Richard Wallace join us to discuss how the lived experience of Black men in Chicago—particularly those impacted by incarceration and generational disinvestment—shapes our understanding of equity, entrepreneurship, and systemic change. We unpack their findings, spotlight resilience strategies from the community, and discuss a bold call to action for transforming not just employment systems—but wealth-building, fatherhood, and policy itself.

Read the Breaking the Chains report.

In Massachusetts, new public investments are expanding access to English language learning for immigrants. But as Andre Green, Executive Director of SkillWorks argues, money alone won’t fix the system. To truly support immigrant workers, we need coordinated systems that recognize language access as a key pillar of equity and economic mobility.

In this episode, we unpack what it takes to build those systems. Andre joins us to talk about how SkillWorks is reimagining English language learning as workforce infrastructure, and why centering immigrants’ experiences is essential to building a more equitable economy.

Commonwealth Beacon: Funding Was the Start – Now We Need To Build Out Systems To Help Our Immigrant Workforce Learn English

Advancing Workforce Equity in Boston: A Blueprint for Action

In today’s economy, data drives decisions. From how employers hire, to how training programs are designed, to how policymakers invest in communities. When data is accurate, comprehensive, and trusted, it helps align resources, reveal opportunities, and strengthen entire systems. In this episode, we’re joined by Joel Simon, Director of Workforce Innovation at the Burning Glass Institute to explore what makes workforce data effective and equitable. We discuss how strong data ecosystems drive better outcomes, and what it takes to build one that truly serves workers, businesses, and communities.