Working Toward Reinvention

Publication Date: March 2007

Publisher: Jobs for the Future, Inc.

Author(s): Geri Scott

Research Area: Labor

Keywords: workforce development; Skillworks; low-wage workers

Type: Report

Coverage: Massachusetts

Abstract:

Launched in 2003, SkillWorks is the largest effort in Boston's history to substantially improve workforce development services for both low-skill/low-income residents and for business. This ambitious, five-year initiative has since become a national model, inspiring other communities and states to launch similar initiatives. This report looks at what SkillWorks has to tell us about the formation of partnerships, engaging employers, aligning resources around a common goal, and the challenges in advancing low-skilled adults toward family-sustaining incomes.