Ken Barnes

Prior to retiring in 2022, Ken led CSW’s technical assistance and evaluation activities in support of California’s workforce development system. He oversaw evaluations of the state’s innovative Slingshot and Accelerator initiatives, and is currently engaged in evaluating regional workforce activities across state, as well as California’s one-stop career center system. He previously assisted the City of Detroit in expanding education and training services for low-income residents through the US Department of Agriculture’s SNAP to Skills initiative. Ken currently serves CSW as a Senior Consultant.

Prior to joining CSW, Ken worked for 12 years as Deputy Director for Planning and Policy Development in the City of Boston’s Office of Workforce Development. In that role, he oversaw the annual procurement process for WIA, CDBG and other funding, including Boston’s Jobs Linkage Program, under which developers pay into a Neighborhood Jobs Trust that funds education and training programs. He was a founding member of the SkillWorks funders collaborative, through which more than a dozen local philanthropies pooled funds with the city to improve the workforce system in Greater Boston.

Ken served for four years as the Senior Planning and Grants Manager for the City of Cambridge Department of Human Service Programs. He began his career as a community organizer, working in low-income neighborhoods in Hartford, Montreal and Eastern Massachusetts. He attended Antioch College, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the interdisciplinary Community Studies program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.