Workforce Community Conversation: Dialogue Between Grantees and Funders

This Workforce Community Conversation will create a space of honest conversation between funders and workforce development organizations to advance a shared sense of mutual understanding, accountability, and possibility. The March 2024 event will focus on the topic of Program Participant Recruitment, Why Has it Gotten so Difficult? What Can Providers and Funders Do About the Challenge? The conversation will delve into a range of issues and ideas such as opportunities for collaboration, needs for flexibility, funder expectations, use of stipends, program hopping, soliciting community voice, and more!

The Workforce Community Conversation series will involve three events in 2024. The goals of this series are to: create a shared learning space about workforce development conditions, trends, and strategies; increase opportunities for non-profit workforce development providers to inform and influence grantmaking and public investments; develop new and improved relationships among stakeholders; identify opportunities to turn ideas and conversations into practices at an ecosystem level; and identify policies and issues for collective advocacy.

Who is organizing this? These Community Conversations are convened by the Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative (BWFC), an initiative of the Maryland Philanthropy Network. They are designed and guided by a non-profit led, multi-stakeholder sub-committee. Committee Chair: Demetrius Goodwin, NPower. 

Participation – This program will be a discussion among workforce providers and public & philanthropic funders only. Future events may include other groups of stakeholders. (maximum 55 registrants)

This program is for MPN members and invited guests only.