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.
Who We Work With
CSW has partnered with workforce investment boards, state and local workforce agencies, community-based organizations, foundations, federal agencies, and colleges in all fifty states to advance sustainable change.
Join us in improving education outcomes:
As an intermediary, CSW works to ensure those that direct service providers have the right workforce and education data, research, tools, and best practice information to effectively serve their communities. As a community partner, we also research emerging trends and bring promising practices forward that can inform future community solutions.
In the late 1990s, CSW was piloting training and employment initiatives in a sector basis rather than focusing on individual companies. In a four-year period, we were able to move sector strategies from 5 states to a well-developed approach that twenty-five states were using. Today, these strategies are widely accepted and used across the country.
Since 2008, the national Workforce Benchmarking Network Survey has collected confidential aggregate data from hundreds of direct service workforce programs, resulting in the largest dataset of its kind in the country (200 organizations and 500+ direct service workforce programs).
In 2014, we studied the workforce system in Detroit and identified key workforce issues. Our labor market information data collection and reporting were used as a basis for restructuring Detroit’s workforce development board and strategies.
From 2015-2018, CSW ran Connecting Credentials to increase the visibility of non-degree credentials and the importance of interconnecting them with degrees. More than 100 national and regional organizations were a part of this campaign to build an action plan and today, much of the current work to reframe the use of credentials and competencies can trace its origins to Connecting Credentials. Today, CSW co-leads work with Credential As You Go, continuing to focus on building an incremental credentialing system. Credential As You Go recognizes that many types of quality credentials (degrees, certificates, industry certifications, licenses, badges, microcredentials) document an individual’s learning, and credentials are awarded by many types of providers including community and technical colleges, four-year colleges and universities, third-party organizations, employers, military, and state licensing boards.
Mission, Vision & Values
Our Mission
CSW catalyzes change in educational and labor market systems, policies and practices to increase economic mobility, particularly for people of color and others historically excluded from success. We focus on achieving scalable improvements in worker skills, lifelong learning, and job quality. CSW collaborates with change makers to develop strategies, identify evidence to inform strategies, build the capacity of organizations, manage initiatives, and evaluate lessons learned.
Our Vision
CSW envisions a society in which every person is able to earn a family-sustaining income, achieve upward mobility, and adapt to the future.
Our Values
Racial Equity & Opportunity: We believe that race should not predict social or economic outcomes for any person. We are deeply committed to intentionally stimulating change in educational and labor market systems to increase the upward mobility of workers, particularly those historically excluded from economic advancement. Learn more about CSW’s commitment to racial equity and inclusion here.
Community & Sustainability: We believe that access to quality jobs and opportunities for learning are critical to personal and community well-being. We work with partners to cultivate sustainable solutions that center the voices and needs of the people most impacted by economic and social inequities so that they are heard and reflected in decision-making.
Trust & Collaboration: We value diverse and collaborative relationships, being a trusted partner, and meeting people where they are with respect. We demonstrate this by committing to the highest professional ethical standards and working together to build trust, foster new ideas, and maximize collective assets.
Learning & Transformation: We welcome different experiences, curiosity, creativity, lifelong learning, and courage to challenge the status quo. We raise difficult questions, actively encourage reflection and dialogue, and provide strategies and tools that support continuous improvements which lead to transformational shifts in organizations, systems, and culture.
Support improvements in worker skills, lifelong learning, and job quality: