Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) has been selected by CAEL (The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning) and Strada Education Foundation as the evaluator for the multi-year, multi-regional “Build Better Careers Initiative,” focused on creating education-to-career pathways in the financial services industry. The initiative seeks to engage industry leaders, workforce development organizations, and postsecondary education institutions to collaborate on meeting the needs of 1) people who seek employment or better employment and 2) employers who need to recruit, retain, skill-up and advance employees; increase diversity, and strengthen equity and inclusion. The initiative will focus on cities where in-demand jobs remain unfilled, and where workforce organizations and educational institutions need to improve collaboration to redefine and strengthen career pathways to employment that lead to economic mobility for all, prioritizing women and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) adult learners.
CSW was chosen to evaluate years two and three of the six-year initiative. To date, three sites have been selected to meet the five-city/region project goal. Planning activities started in 2022 in the first two regions, Charlotte, NC and Memphis, TN, and the third launched in early 2023 in Miami, FL. The remaining project locations will be announced at a future date. Each regional project will have a duration of three years. The evaluation will help document the impact of the initiative on learners and workers, especially BIPOC and women participants, as well as on the employers, partners, and regional workforce development systems.
CSW will conduct a mixed methods evaluation that blends both formative and summative methods and will be grounded in a culturally responsive and equitable evaluation approach. This approach will help center the evaluation on women, BIPOC learners, and incumbent workers to best measure the impact of the project on regional equity for workers and learners in the financial services sector.
CSW is excited to leverage its evaluation capacity as well as long-standing workforce development, career pathways, and industry sector partnerships history and experience to support CAEL in documenting the learning tied to this important initiative. The findings will inform future initiative planning and implementation, as well as support the workforce development field in understanding new ways to serve learners and workers with innovative programming aimed at addressing long-standing disparities.
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