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Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative

ABOUT US      WHAT WE DO     KEY INITIATIVES     PUBLICATIONS     MEMBERS


 
 
 
 
 

 

 
ABOUT US

The Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative is a group of private and public funders established to support the alignment and pooling of resources around common workforce development goals and strategies. The BWFC is hosted by Maryland Philanthropy Network and is a signed partner of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. For over a decade, BWFC funder members have gathered on a monthly basis for conversations about topics related to our collective strategies and goals. 

Vision: We envision the Baltimore region as a place of equity and shared prosperity, where all communities and workers can access employment that brings dignity and enables families to thrive and build wealth.

Mission: The BWFC is a collective committed to advancing equity, job quality and systems change efforts that lead to family-sustaining wages, strengthened communities, and a vibrant local economy.

We Value:

Racial Equity, Justice and Inclusion: The systematic fair treatment of all people through transformative and reparative action as the foundation of our work, resulting in prosperity for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who have been excluded from the benefits of the American economy.

Harnessing the Power of the Collective: The amplified and increased impact that occurs when we bring our ideas, expertise, and resources together as a group.

Continuous Learning: The importance of an ongoing journey as a collective includes personal, professional, and organizational growth for Collaborative members, learning from grantees, policymakers, community, and individuals with lived experience.

Courage to Take Risks: The responsibility to show up as a leader in support of unemployed and underemployed residents and the willingness to support early innovation in the field.

Trust: The commitment to being honest with each other, stakeholders, partners, and grantees; and to strive to achieve transparency and integrity in our decision making and grantmaking.

Our Roles:

The BWFC is comprised of private and public funders. Together our primary roles in this work are to:

  • Provide resources and thought partnership to support strategies and tactics that are aligned with the BWFC’s mission and vision,
  • Help increase overall investment by aggregating investments, attracting external resources, and forging partnerships,
  • Take risks to catalyze and incubate new approaches and ideas,
  • Create and sustain local momentum to change narratives, expand practices, and improve policies to support workforce equity,
  • Drive aligned grantmaking and collective action, and
  • Share learnings to help improve outcomes and support our grantees.

 

WHAT WE DO: STRATEGIC AND OPERATING FRAMEWORK

 This document sets forth our vision, mission, and set of values. It recognizes the rich history of the BWFC dating back to 2006 and presents our strategic principles, pillars, and tactics for the future. This framework also lays out a plan for how the Collaborative is structured to operate.

CLICK HERE TO READ OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

GUIDING STRATEGIC PRINCIPLES

 

Race should not be a determinant of one’s employment outcomes or wealth. We recognize and work to dismantle systemic racism, bias, and anti-blackness.

 

Employers are essential partners in this work. Advancing worker wellbeing and closing racial wealth gaps often requires changes in employer practice.

 

Those who do the work of providing services and solutions are our partners in this work and we, as funders, commit to listening to these partners and approach them with humility and respect.

 

We apply an asset framework to our work and our communications. We acknowledge all people’s aspirations, gifts, and excellence. We do not define people by their challenges.

 

We use a systems approach to workforce problems and solutions.  This means that we look across our ecosystem at interconnected policies, practices and mindsets that sustain inequities.

 

The adults and youth most impacted by the work need to be heard and have agency. Jobseeker and worker voice is essential.

 

STRATEGIC PILLARS

 

CREATE MORE EQUITABLE ACCESS TO GOOD JOBS

 

 

INCREASE THE NUMBER OF GOOD JOBS

 

SUPPORT EQUITABLE AND IMPACTFUL WORKFORCE FUNDER PRACTICE
  • Increase the supply of effective training and education that leads to good jobs
  • Support opportunities for career progression to occupations that can sustain families and build wealth
  • Offer accessible, effective supportive services
  • Support city and county efforts to build more coordinated workforce systems
  • Fund and advocate for approaches that eliminate systemic barriers to good jobs
  • Support and incentivize employer-based hiring, training, and workforce practices that improve job quality
  • Elevate worker / jobseeker voice
  • Support good jobs policy making and enforcement
  • Educate and empower workers and jobseekers to have agency in the labor market
  • Facilitate peer learning, collaboration, alignment, and pooling of funds
  • Support adoption of equitable workforce grantmaking practices
  • Collect and share data about workforce grantmaking
  • Provide learning opportunities for funders
 
KEY INITIATIVES

 

Baltimore Energy and Infrastructure Workforce Coalition

The newly formed Baltimore Energy and Infrastructure Workforce Coalition, a collaborative effort among public and private partners, will support the coordination of skills training and the deployment of a flexible fund for worker supports, ensuring that high-quality, publicly funded clean energy and infrastructure jobs are accessible to Baltimore City residents.

Shifting the Childcare Industry: Better Jobs for Better Access

In 2024, the Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative (received a $200,000 grant from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions to convene a group of local stakeholders around childcare job quality challenges and solutions. The grant is part of the National Fund’s new initiative, Shifting the Childcare Industry: Better Jobs for Better Access, aimed at making childcare more accessible by supporting the workforce in the sector. The initiative is launching in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Ohio, and Central Iowa with generous support from the Truist Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The grant poses a unique opportunity for BWFC to collaborate with the Prenatal to Five Funders Affinity Group (PN-5), also housed at MPN, at a time when local stakeholders are working toward successful implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — a statewide early childhood and K-12 education systems change effort that will have a significant impact on the childcare industry and workforce. The two collaboratives will convene a work group of funders, providers, advocates, entrepreneurs, and workers to explore practices and systems that advance equity and job quality in Baltimore’s childcare sector and develop solutions in concert with broader efforts to support the successful implementation of the Blueprint. 

Wage Record Study

BWFC works with the Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore to conduct analysis of pre- and post- training earnings for participants of Baltimore’s workforce development programs. Data from the State’s Unemployment Insurance records supplement demographic and training outcomes collected from workforce development grantees, helping understand the impact of workforce interventions. Click here to read more about the Wage Record Study and to access the 2022 report.

Workforce Community Conversations 

In keeping with the Collaborative’s commitment to listening to our partners at the front lines of workforce development services in Baltimore, the BWFC launched the Workforce Community Conversations initiative in 2023. A planning committee comprised of service providers and funders has defined a shared concept of workforce community conversations, and works to develop and facilitate Workforce Community Conversation events. Approximately 50 individuals representing a balanced list of funders and grantees attended the first two events in Fall 2023 and Winter 2024. The Workforce Community Conversations are designed to foster open communications between funders and practitioners to build a shared sense of mutual understanding,accountability, and possibility.

Workforce Grants Scan

The Collaborative conducts an annual collection and analysis of workforce funding data for the Baltimore region. In 2023, we were able to track 11 private and public funders collaborating to award $36.9M of new funding in 2022 for workforce development efforts in Baltimore. This represented $16.9M (46%) in grants and contracts made by philanthropic members of the BWFC which, in turn, leveraged $20M (54%) in public grants to nonprofit partners. The largest categories of funding were for:  Industry-Specific Training Programs, General Employment Preparation and Career Readiness, and In-School Youth Workforce Programming.

 

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
OUR MEMBERS

Abell Foundation*

Annie E. Casey Foundation*

Baltimore County Department of Economic and Workforce Development

Baltimore Gas & Electric

Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Employment Development*

The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation*

Hoffberger Family Philanthropies

The Knott Foundation

Robert W. Deutsch Foundation

Thalheimer Eurich Charitable Fund

Truist

*founding members