What We Do

CSW’s Improving Practices & Outcomes Team envisions a workforce system that produces equitable & inclusive outcomes, values the expertise of workforce practitioners, and meaningfully centers workers & learners. Our work ensures practitioners and community-based organizations have access to the knowledge, peer connections, evidence-based tools, and practical skills needed to strengthen their day-to-day work and increase their impact. 

Who We Work With

The Improving Practices and Outcomes team works in collaboration with workforce professionals, providers & intermediaries, learners & workers, funders, and other key ecosystem partners to offer opportunities that build the field’s capacity to deliver more effective services, produce better results, and more deeply center the needs of those most impacted by our work. 

How We Do It

• Workforce Benchmarking Network
• Learner & Worker-Centered Best Practice Research
• Workforce Organization Capacity Building
• Workforce Staff Professional Development
• Place-Based Systems Improvement
• Workforce Leadership Academies (WLA)

Featured Case Study: Equity Learning Lab

The Improving Practices & Outcomes Team in partnership with the Philadelphia Workforce Professional Alliance (WPA), the City of Philadelphia, and Pew Charitable Trusts, led the development of a Shared Workforce Metric Framework to strengthen economic mobility and equity in Philadelphia. This project brought together workforce practitioners, employers, and job seekers to co-create a shared foundation for tracking and analyzing workforce outcomes. 

The resulting framework is designed to be a foundational guide for future workforce planning and capacity building. It promotes a consistent approach to defining and measuring key outcomes such as enrollment, completion, employment, and retention—while also identifying gaps and opportunities across the ecosystem. 

The Framework Will: 

• Help organizations evaluate and strengthen their data collection and analysis capacity 

• Serve as a common tool for employers, funders, providers, and policymakers to align around goals and resources 

• Establish shared definitions and practices to support long-term planning and collaboration across the workforce system 

Recent Clients & Selected Work

• Philadelphia Workforce Shared Measures
  Pew Charitable Trust & Philadelphia Department of Commerce
• WBN NYC Cohorts, in partnership with NYCETC
  The Pinkerton Foundation, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Ira W. DeCamp Foundation, and Deutsche Bank
• Workforce Wellness Design Sprint
  In partnership with WPTI & NYCETC
• Detroit Workforce Leadership Academy
  Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation
• Early Childhood Education Career Pathways Mapping & Wage Scale Strategy 
  Hope Starts Here
• Equity Learning Lab
  Siemens Foundation
• Examining Use of Systemic Change Metrics for Improved Program Outcomes
  Greater Twin Cities United Way
• Michigan Landscape Analysis of Workforce Programs for Directly Impacted Adults & Strategy Recommendations
  Michigan Justice Fund
• RespectAbility Disability Employment Services
  Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies (NJHSA)
• WBN Cohort, Dallas
  United Way of Greater Dallas & Communities Foundation of Northern Texas
• WBN Cohort, Detroit
  W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• Worker/Learner Focused Workforce Benchmarking  
  Annie E. Casey Foundation

Featured Reports & Publications

Meet the Improving Practices & Outcomes Team:

Learn More About Improving Practices & Outcomes