What’s Going On with the Workforce Funders Group?

The Cuyahoga County Workforce Funders Group (WFG), started in 2015 by Cuyahoga County leadership, is a group of funders – from the public, corporate and private sectors – interested to simultaneously tackle two challenges we have in greater Cleveland:

1) We have many underemployed, or unemployed, people who want and deserve a career which pays a family-sustaining wage; and

2) We have many employers who have indicated that “they can’t find good workers”. 

Knowing the difficulty in tackling these challenges individually, the group came together to tackle these complex challenges more effectively and with greater impact. The WFG today envisions a just economy where all people in our community can thrive in their careers, employers have talent for their quality jobs, and race does not determine economic success. The group has chosen to focus its resources on addressing “systemic” workforce challenges. Systemic solutions have several characteristics (see this article) but the ones we used most of all:

• • We seek new practices or behaviors, not just new “programs”. By changing the way stakeholders behave, you can achieve long term change (not one that is dependent upon funding.) One example of this is when our local hospitals decided to eliminate a restriction in hiring – visible tattoos –which opened up consideration of many talented people for roles.
  • We believe that solutions need to address the needs and practices of multiple stakeholders, not just one stakeholder group. The communication of those needs, the facilitation and negotiation of solutions, and the collaborative approach to implementation all promise more sustainable results.

As a funders collaborative, the WFG – with the active involvement of its public and philanthropic members– provides funding, the time of its members, and advocacy and communications support towards these goals.  All the actual good work is completed by partners, whether those are training providers, employers, employer serving organizations, research partners, or other stakeholders. Here are some of the outcomes of the partners who have worked with the WFG:

• • 1,500+ people trained. 70% of these people are Black and 4% are Latine, and 28% are female.
  • 4,180 people connected to employment in pathways to quality jobs, 66% in manufacturing careers, and 30% in healthcare careers, both of which are critical industries for Northeast Ohio
  • 100 employers engaged at various points in the work

But these metrics only tell part of the story. In fact, here are some of the stories of the impactful work WFG partners have led:

• • A self-organized collaboration of long-term care providers (including Judson, Jennings, and McGregor) have implemented an AI-based technology called Arena Analytics. Arena Analytics’ software has been used to help those applying for a first job at one of these providers to determine if the job applied for is a strong fit with their skills, interests, and geography. If not, other jobs from the providers are recommended. This has already led to 33% increases in retention in the short term and longer-term benefits are expected. Now, the group wants to test Arena as a tool to help existing employees advance along career pathways.
  • Two sector partnerships – groups of employers in the same industries, in this case, manufacturing and healthcare – launched by the WFG, gather to collaboratively address challenges they can’t address on their own. The employers reviewed and updated their internal hiring practices.  Training providers have built and/or evolved programs to meet the needs of the employers, now that they know what they are.  Sometimes, training programs are shorter, and interviews for jobs are part of the curriculum. These changes have helped many Cleveland residents start in careers where barriers existed before, including hundreds of returning citizens.
  • “Career coaches” support many of the job seekers in the workforce system, but the job of “career coach” is not taught in traditional education pathways! One of the sector partnerships runs a professional development program for career coaches across all the non-profits, providing consistent training on the role and building a community of career coaches who know and appreciate each others’ challenges and successes.
  • Eight different IT employers implemented skills-based hiring, one of the most significant hiring practice changes which increase employment opportunities for people without college degrees. Many alternative training approaches (including IT bootcamps or other programs) enable people to secure the skills needed for entry level jobs on a good career path.
  • With the goal of increasing the number of people entering and staying in the infant and youth mental health workforce, a slew of new activities have kicked off, from awareness-building to internships to building career pathways.

In addition, the WFG has supported research studies to better arm stakeholders with data, perspectives, and insights to support workforce development strategies. The WFG participated in projects to better understand the IT sector, the opportunity of climate-related/“green” jobs, and the economic impact of the lack of childcare availability for workers, among others.

Lastly, the WFG has also supported pilots which didn’t yield the results sought. This is a unique and exciting benefit of a funder collaborative, which has the ability to support strategically-grounded experiments, without significant downside if they don’t work as planned. This approach supports a more nimble, innovative ecosystem which is constantly learning and testing.

The WFG has refined its 2025 – 2027 approach to adapt to our changing workforce ecosystem. More to come on its areas of continued and new work in the coming months!  Learn more about the Cuyahoga County Workforce Funders Group at its refreshed website.