SkillWorks Partnerships: Their Structure, Evolution, and Effect on Outcomes

"The SkillWorks Initiative was built on the premise that intended outcomes, such as advancing low-skilled workers, increasing the capacity of the workforce development system, and meeting employers’ needs for a trained workforce, would be accomplished more successfully in the context of collaborative relationships called workforce partnerships. Workforce partnerships allow individual organizations to engage in work that they would not have the capacity to do on their own, to access additional information and resources, and to engage in work that might be too risky to complete unilaterally. The first section of this report outlined the SkillWorks funders’ intention for selecting the partnership model and the guidance they provided to grantees. The next section summarized the workforce partnerships’ implementation experiences, including goals, structures, and evolution. The final section discussed the study’s findings and conclusions" (p. 1). (Abstractor: Author)

Despite the diversity of organizational composition, structure, and management approach, authors identified several common traits that broadly enhanced organizations’ effectiveness, including: • Unambiguous leadership: “Where there was clear and concise leadership, workforce partnerships were able to focus on their principal goals of meeting employer needs and training low-skilled workers. The joint leadership required the project directors of both partnerships to spend considerable time coordinating—coordinating leadership, the delivery of services, and the general administration of the program. In partnerships with singular leadership, this time was spent instead on activities like adapting curricula to meet employer needs and more in-depth case management” (p.9). • Trust: “Regardless of whether trust had to be built or maintained, trust was fostered by staff consistency, follow-through on commitments, and establishing a track record of being qualified to perform the role assigned. With trust, partnerships were able to weather unexpected challenges and lower-than-hoped-for outcomes and felt empowered to experiment with services they offered” (p.10). • Appropriate partnership size: “The smaller the number of employer partners, the easier it was to customize services to meet employer needs” (p.11). • Broad-minded employers with an industry-wide perspective: “When employers recognize that their own immediate hiring and retention needs are part of a broader industry-wide challenge, they will be more willing to work collaboratively with other employers to create raining strategies” (p.11). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2009
• Author(s): Minzner, Amy; Schneider, Glen; Vaughn, Joshua; Siegel, Beth; Winey, Devon
• Organizational Author(s): Abt Associates and Mt. Auburn Associates
• Funding Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Gift Fund, Boston 2004, Boston Foundation, City of Boston's Neighborhood Jobs Trust, Clowes Fund, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Hyams Foundation, Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust, John Merck Fund, Paul and Phyllis Fireman Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, State Street Foundation, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Melissa Mack
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies