PEER Academy Cohort Participants Announced

Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 1, 2024: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) and the New York Association of Training & Employment Professionals (NYATEP), with support from the Ballmer Foundation and the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation, are partnering to deliver the inaugural cohort of a labor market information (LMI) academy, titled the Partnering Economic & Employment Research (PEER) Academy, in Southeast Michigan and Western New York.  

Sixteen applicants have been selected to participate in the PEER Academy from regional workforce and economic development organizations. The fellows selected for this cohort represent a diverse range of nonprofit organizations, institutes of higher education, and public agencies. Cohort members include:

Academy fellows will participate in a 9-month series of retreats and workshops where they will receive lessons on how to collect and use LMI data as well as see examples of other providers using data to better guide program development, industry recruitment and engagement, and to help residents make better choices about available jobs, workforce education and training programs, and career pathways that are suitable for them. Additionally, fellows will learn strategies for using data to support local planning, continuous improvement, and innovation efforts and to achieve better and more equitable outcomes for workers, learners, employers, and communities. The PEER Academy will launch at an opening retreat November 19-20 in Buffalo, NY, and will culminate in a capstone LMI project and June 2025 closing retreat in Detroit, MI.  

To learn more about the PEER Academy, please visit the website or contact Megan Elyse Williams at mwilliams@skilledwork.org. This experience was developed from CSW’s JPMorgan Chase & Co.- funded workforce development data toolkit, “Understanding Your Community: Labor Market and Workforce Development Data Toolkit.” This academy builds on CSW and NYATEP’s strengths and services around supporting organizations with relevant and quality LMI and expanded LMI capacity.   

About Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW): Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is a national workforce policy non-profit that partners with government, business, education, and community leaders to cultivate good jobs and the skilled workers to fill them. Since 1991, CSW has catalyzed change in educational and labor market systems, focusing on scalable improvements in worker skills, job quality, and access to opportunity. CSW provides services across five strategy areas: Competencies & Credentials; Improving Practices & Outcomes; Federal, State, & Local Systems Change; Research & Evaluation; and Trauma & Resilience at Work. CSW advances policies and practices which increase economic mobility, particularly for people of color and others historically excluded from success.  

About New York Association of Training & Employment Professionals (NYATEP): The New York Association of Training & Employment Professionals (NYATEP) is a 501(c)(3) intermediary and membership organization serving the workforce development community throughout New York State. Our focus is ensuring that every New Yorker and employer in New York State has access to the skills they need to work in and support a robust statewide economy.  www.nyatep.org or on X @NYATEP