Northeast Ohio Wins National Workforce Funding, Support
July 22, 2010
The Fund for Our Economic Future is pleased to announce that Northeast Ohio and seven other communities have received a $5.7 million grant from the White House Social Innovation Fund as part of a multi-regional initiative to strengthen workforce development.
Northeast Ohio’s portion of the grant will support a new regional initiative that the Fund is organizing with partners, called NEO@Work, that is focused on serving low-skilled and hard-to-employ residents. NEO@Work will build a network of stakeholders that will share best practices, identify and expand effective programs that move clients into career paths, and advocate for state and federal policy changes.
To apply for this highly competitive grant, the Fund and other Northeast Ohio partners joined a multi-region collaboration, led by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO). Joining New York and Northeast Ohio in the collaboration are Kansas City, MO; Memphis, TN; Newark, NJ; San Antonio, TX; Savannah, GA; and Tulsa, OK. How the grant will be shared among the collaborating communities hasn’t yet been determined.
“Northeast Ohio’s low-skilled workers and employers will benefit from the Social Innovation Fund’s commitment to a new way to foster, spread and advocate for effective workforce development programs,” said Brad Whitehead, president, Fund for Our Economic Future. “Having federal funding to support our efforts to develop promising pilot projects is an important step as we work to strengthen the economic competitiveness of Northeast Ohio."
In addition to the support from the Social Innovation Fund, the NEO@Work initiative has received support from two national foundations. The Surdna Foundation of New York City committed $500,000 and the Joyce Foundation of Chicago committed $20,000. The Fund is expected to consider an initial grant for the initiative in September.
For more information, read the news release issued by the Fund.
Learn more about the Social Innovation Fund.
Learn more about the 2010 Social Innovation Fund grantees.
Learn more about the Center for Economic Opportunity.