The economic mobility of unskilled workers in low-income communities depends on gaining access to new skills and finding high-quality, career-track jobs.

High-quality jobs offer:
• wages sufficient to cover basic living expenses, a steady income
• stable, predictable work hours
• conditions that are free from discrimination and harassment
• benefits that facilitate a healthy life – typically health insurance, paid sick leave, family leave, a retirement savings plan, disability, vacation time, and life insurance

The healthcare sector is the largest and fastest-growing employer in the U.S. economy. Even before the pandemic, which has increased the demand for workers and drawn attention to healthcare generally, 20.5 million people, or 11.6% of all workers, were in the healthcare sector at the end of 2018. The Labor Department projects that employment in healthcare will grow 15% by 2029, adding about 2.4 million new jobs, and more than 8 million more workers will be needed to replace those who will leave or retire over the next decade.

• JVS is a part of the National Jewish Human Service Agencies (NJHSA) whose mission is to guide members in the areas of program delivery, innovation, research, and fundraising. Each agency has long-established roots in its community and shares that experience, along with curriculum and best practices, in working groups and at annual convenings. The network of more than 150 nonprofits in the U.S., Canada, and Israel, many with extensive experience in workforce development, helps all members build relationships, identify challenges, and implement effective solutions to improve their outcomes. This approach builds and bolsters a cohort of leaders, fosters systems thinking across sites, and helps agencies understand the value of strong data collection.

• JVS is a leader in the field of workforce development and has been instrumental in developing innovative ways to educate and prepare students for the demands of competitive, technical marketplaces all over the country. In 2018 JVS Boston and SkillWorks launched Project Catapult with support from the Boston Foundation to develop methods for moving untapped talent into the market at a faster, more direct, and sustainable rate. The result was the Catapult Papers in 2019, a series of papers on the practices that “next-gen workforce development organizations” are using to connect employers and job seekers. Catapult followed up the initial publication with Catapult Forward, which captured the 14 best practices the most-innovative workforce organizations and employers are using to find, train and help ensure that workers are being retained in rewarding careers. The model is focused on six pillars: Investing in what works; Emphasizing the role of business; Strategic coalition-building; Rewarding risk; Continuous Improvement; Financing Capacity.

• Several JVS agencies have participated in randomized control trials to confirm program impact and earnings gains. As a network and individually, JVS has been recognized as an outstanding training provider in scholarly articles, newspaper articles, news segments, and many other resources in the field of workforce development.