Deaconess Foundation helps people impacted by poverty to build careers that sustain themselves and their families.

Why Career Pathways

In 2016, we adopted career pathways as our area of strategic focus. The career pathways approach supports individuals along an established, visible and progressive route to stable employment offering family-sustaining wages. Typically, a career pathway is within one industry or sector, in which someone starts in an entry level job and through support from the employer and the ecosystem, is able to progress up within that industry or sector into higher paying jobs (often through a combination of additional education or training and experience).

Key services under a career pathways approach are career navigation assistance, work experience, employer supports and credential training/education. A career pathways approach requires a longer timeframe than an employment entry approach because “success” is the attainment of family-sustaining wage, which is not always a direct, linear path, and can take years to unfold.

    The Impact We Strive to Achieve

• Significant increase in the number of individuals, particularly Black and Latinx people, earning a family-sustaining wage
• Significant reduction in open jobs in sectors of focus
• Increased alignment among DF partners and within the workforce ecosystem

Our Roles and Levers to Accomplish our Strategies

• Lead: We lead (as changemakers)
• Collaborate: We work in partnership with others to increase outcomes
• Communicate: We share information and stories to increase visibility, understanding, and support for workforce development
• Convene: We bring stakeholders together to learn and act
• Make Grants: We commit financial resources to the most aligned initiatives

Our Beliefs:

Deaconess Foundation believes all people deserve a career which pays a family sustaining wage. This belief motivates us to improve systems, eliminate barriers for the underserved, champion innovative practices, and continuously learn.