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Workforce Strategy Center (WSC) funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

December 9, 2008 /

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org has named Workforce Strategy Center (WSC)
http://www.workforcestrategy.org as the recipient of a grant to study best practices to engage employers in workforce development initiatives. WSC’s grant will help the Gates Foundation meet one of the goals of its Postsecondary Success Initiative: to double the number of low-income young adults who earn postsecondary degrees by the age of 26. (Please see the Gates Foundation announcement at http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-09-2008/0004938739&EDATE=.

The Gates Foundation announcement comes on the heels of President-elect Obama’s pledge to create 2.5 million jobs over the next two years. In order to do so, it will be critical to engage employers to help identify the postsecondary education and training workers will need to be competitive. With the dual pressures of increasing globalization and the U.S.’s projected shortage of skilled workers in the next decade, the Obama Administration has a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a systematic program that educates and trains the workforce for tomorrow.

This is a task with which WSC, as recognized by the Gates Foundation grant, is uniquely positioned to help.

WSC has learned over the past decade — in its work with community colleges, the business community and workforce and economic development agencies in over 20 states — how to align employer demands with education and training policies and practices both effectively and cost-efficiently. WSC hopes its research in this area will prove helpful in guiding job creation initiatives.

If you would like to learn more about WSC’s research on successful workforce development strategies please email me at [email protected].

Best,

Julian L. Alssid

Executive Director

Workforce Strategy Center

350 Fifth Avenue, 59th Floor

New York, NY 10118

646-205-3240 x101 (telephone)

646-205-3241 (fax)

[email protected]

http://www.workforcestrategy.org