Workforce development advocates are fiercely protective of the communities they care about. This comes from operating in an environment of scarcity. With organizations competing for limited resources, advocates are focused on protecting their own funding streams, programs, and priorities. Often, it can feel like a zero-sum game: there isn’t enough money or opportunity to go around, so we need to protect what we have. NSC’s A New Promise of Work campaign asks us to think differently. What could we build if we stopped treating resources, opportunity, and success as zero-sum – and instead, started from a belief that workers, businesses, and communities can all prosper together? A belief that we all benefit when we share resources and work towards a collective vision.
Breaking through that scarcity mindset isn’t easy. It requires a drastic change in the narratives driving our workforce and other systems. As part of building A New Promise of Work, NSC has been hosting in-person and virtual convenings to listen to workforce partners across the country and to understand what a fundamentally different workforce system would look like. During one of those conversations in Texas, we talked about the scarcity mindset that can keep stakeholders focused on protecting their own interests. One workforce provider suggested that meeting over tacos and beer might be a good way to get out of their organizational silos, hash out their differences, find common ground around what they could accomplish together – around the room, several heads nodded in agreement, reinforcing the idea.
That moment stayed with me for weeks after our visit to Austin. Bring people together informally, give them space to talk, and let them build relationships – is it really that simple? Can meeting over tacos and beer really bring together stakeholders who have the same goals but can’t seem to find their way to working with one another? Sometimes, it can. And I like to think that’s part of NSC’s secret sauce.
When we asked state partners to think beyond the constraints of our current workforce system and imagine what a New Promise of Work would look like, what they imagined had a lot in common. Again and again, they came back to what work should deliver – for workers, businesses, families, and communities. Regardless of region, political climate, or other state-based context, three themes stood out to me.
Work and education are supposed to make people’s lives better, more secure, and, in some cases, fulfilling. The reality is that work and education often comes with logistical pressures like juggling childcare and having reliable transportation; stress about making the right career decisions with minimal guidance; and the financial burdens or risks that come with enrolling in training. Even when people jump through all of these hoops, there is no guarantee that there is a quality job on the other end that can deliver what is expected.
Throughout our visioning workshops, partners explored what it would look like if workers had guaranteed income, easy access to wraparound supports, and the security to take risks, like the pursuit of education and training, along their career pathway. We talked about the impact this would have on families and communities, the way it would empower individuals to show up, contribute, and strengthen their networks, and the exponential effect of that happening across a town, state, and nation.
Our state partners imagined a workforce system that expanded opportunities for people and made learning new skills easily accessible and attainable. A system that directs people to quality jobs with fair pay and benefits, a safe workplace, and meaningful opportunities to grow and provide input. And a system that recognizes people’s lives don’t exist in siloes and effectively operates with other systems to holistically support meaningful outputs for individuals and their communities
Our A New Promise of Work campaign is rooted in the belief that all people have talent and are worthy of being treated with respect and dignity. When workforce development is treated as a first-choice investment in people, talent is not only appreciated, its strengthened, and people are left feeling proud about themselves and their contributions to their workplace, family, and community.
Throughout our workshops, partners raised the potential impact of this narrative and the different ways it would expand worker and employer outcomes. They imagined middle-class work that afforded a good quality of life, access to networks, mentors, and career exploration opportunities regardless of zip code, race, or gender, and a workforce system grounded in the honest recognition that every person has talent and that every job deserves dignity and respect.
One community-based organization in Massachusetts told us how dramatically a different approach could transform the way youth view work. They described young learners who feel confused and unsure about which training and education to pursue that would deliver a meaningful quality of life. They imagined a modern workforce system that would align with education to help youth identify their natural strengths early on and explore different career paths with navigators in middle and high school. They told us this kind of system could disrupt existing narratives that only specific jobs and skills are worthy of meaningful wages and access to quality healthcare, housing, and food. And it could reduce the burden young learners feel to make decisions early in their lives that permanently affect their economic security.
Perhaps the most consistent topic across our state convenings, and frankly any conversation with state workforce advocates over the last year, is affordability. People are feeling the impacts of the economy, and because of the way our system is currently structured, they’re losing faith in the premise that work is enough to provide economic security.
One of my favorite themes to come out of these discussions was the need and potential for an abundance mindset. State partners pushed one another to imagine what the outcomes would look like with a workforce system operating on the understanding that there is enough money, success, opportunity, and prosperity for everyone. They envisioned workers benefiting from the industry growth and innovation they’re contributing to; people having access to training and connections that open doors and make hiring and advancement fairer; and a shared understanding that everyone deserves the chance to pursue their dreams and build a better life for themselves and families.
I am grateful for and inspired by the conversations we had with state partners, new and old, throughout the summer. Their visions and hopes for the future of work and our workforce system are ambitious, innovative, and worthy of pursuit. And there was a tacit acknowledgement that to get something different, we need to do something different.
Stay tuned for updates on NSC’s A New Promise of Work campaign and efforts with state partners. And reach out if you’re interested in learning more or getting involved with advocacy in your state! Together, we will achieve our vision for a stronger, more resilient, and equitable workforce system that truly delivers for all workers, employers, and communities.
