Federal, State, & Local Systems Change

Partnering with changemakers at the intersection of education, workforce, and economic development.

What We Do

CSW’s Federal, State, and Local Systems Change Team strengthens and transforms workforce systems by translating complex challenges into clear, actionable strategies that help decision-makers improve economic outcomes for communities. Our approach reflects CSW’s core purpose, advising leaders across the country on policies and practices that expand opportunity and economic mobility. We incorporate co-design principles, elevate practitioner and community voices, and continually refine our support based on evidence, feedback, and changing economic and policy conditions.

Who We Work With

CSW works with organizations at multiple levels–federal, state, community, industry, agency–to challenge the status quo, strip away outdated assumptions, and co-design systems change solutions that drive equity and economic growth.

How We Do It

Policy & Strategy Development
Inclusive and Equity-Centered Systems Design
Workforce Board Support
Sector Transition Strategy
Innovation, Scaling, & Sustainability Support
Workforce System Technical Assistance & Implementation Support

Join us in making change:

How We’re Making Change

Policy & Strategy Development

In partnership with local and state workforce agencies, CSW turns workforce vision into action by designing clear governance models, decision frameworks, and coordinated strategies that help leaders anticipate change and strengthen economic outcomes.

Inclusive and Equity-Centered Systems Design

Through inclusive, worker-centered design and rigorous barrier analysis, workforce systems are transformed to embed equity, elevate customer experience, amplify practitioner voice, and remove barriers that limit access and opportunity for communities.

Workforce Board Support

We support workforce boards and system leaders to modernize governance, staffing, and operations, align systems more effectively, and respond to evolving labor-market needs in service of jobseekers, workers, and employers.

Sector Transition Strategy

Through aligned labor-market intelligence, employer insight, and cross-system partnerships, we help states and regions build resilient, future-ready talent pipelines that connect people to quality credentials and jobs.

Innovation, Scaling, & Sustainability Support

Promising workforce innovations are advanced from short-term pilots to sustainable, scalable solutions through applied research, rigorous data-informed evaluation, and strategies designed for long-term systems change.

Workforce System Technical Assistance & Implementation Support

Hands-on technical assistance and facilitation turn reform goals into operational reality, reinforcing internal capacity and sustaining high-quality service delivery with measurable economic benefit.

An overwhelming number of training programs do
not prioritize demand
occupations or quality jobs.

A recent study of federally funded job training programs found that over
40% of program graduates earned less than $25,000/year, and only 54%
of the programs were training for occupations expected to grow over
the next 10 years.

Work With Us

Featured Case Study: A2B4Equity: Advancing Adults’ Ability to Benefit Through Equitable College Promise Programs

CSW, with support from the ECMC Foundation, partnered with World Education and the University of Pittsburgh School of Education to pilot an initiative to bolster equity in post-secondary education through an innovative funding strategy to accelerate student achievement. In order to access federal student financial aid, students must have a high school diploma. This policy effectively locks out low-income students who may have stopped out of school years ago but are ready and able to earn a postsecondary career and technical education credential now; and blocks them from accessing career-building credentials and good jobs. These policies also leave valuable talent on the table in the middle of a massive labor shortage in this county. The A2B4 Equity project worked with community colleges in Michigan and Chicago to test the use of “college promise” funding to pay for enrollment into career pathway programs for students who do not have a high school diploma or equivalent, leveraging one of the options in the Ability to Benefit provision of the federal Title IV student financial aid program. The goals of this pilot program are to broaden postsecondary participation and completion to a new population of currently unserved adult students; address historic systemic racial and income disparities in high school completion and postsecondary access and success; and increase the strategic use of financial aid resources to benefit students across the country.

A2B4Equity Pilot Project to Leverage Proxy College Promise Funding and Ability to Benefit to Advance Adult Student College Access and Educational Equity: Final Evaluation Report

The Unsung Student Aid Option: A College Leader’s Guide to Implementing the Credit-Hour Ability to Benefit Provision in the Federal Student Aid Program

Recent Clients & Selected Work

A2B4Equity Pilot
ECMC Foundation
America’s Jobs Centers of California Evaluation
California Workforce Development Board
Career Pathways Learning Network
United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
Creating a Regional Business Intermediary for Workforce
Ralph C. Wilson Foundation & Ballmer Group
Optimization of the Utilization of Financial Aid in the Pennsylvania Workforce System
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Bureau of Workforce Development Administration
Regional Equity and Recovery Partnership Evaluation
California Workforce Development Board
Setting a Regional Strategy for Opportunity Youth
Southeast Michigan – Ballmer Group

Featured Reports & Publications

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Federal, State, & Local Systems Change