Los Angeles Workforce Funder Collaborative

Eight organizations make up the Los Angeles Workforce Funder Collaborative, launched in 2007. LAWFC members are involved with several workforce development projects. Two projects have been drivers for investment in these regional funding organizations: health care career ladders for diverse populations and access to affordable; and quality health care for underserved individuals and communities.

LAWFC engages regional workforce partnerships and introduces opportunities for regional focus and collaboration. It also supports the development of strong workforce partnerships among educators/trainers, employers, and service providers and increases opportunities for joint workforce activities between local workforce investment boards and workforce partnerships.

Funding Collaborative

Core collaborative members pool funds. The members are United Way of Greater Los Angeles, California Community Foundation, the California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente Foundation, and the State of California-Employment Development Department. Additional funders that have committed to direct grants that align with the collective vision and goals of the LAWFC include the Bank of America Foundation and the S. Mark Taper Foundation.

The steering committee is comprised of funders who contribute to the pooled fund, along with private and public funders making aligned grants. The committee is responsible for cultivating and sustaining relationships with key partners and ensuring that grantmaking priorities and strategies are in line with the requirements of both public and private funders. The committee also reaches out to potential funding partners and leads fundraising activities. 

The funding committee is responsible for setting LAWFC’s priorities for grantmaking and the design of the grantmaking process.

Key Strategies and Interventions

LAWFC plans to invest in three key strategies: direct support for workforce partnerships in three key industry sectors; business-to-business outreach and education; and public policy advocacy to facilitate career advancement for lower-skilled adults.  

The LAWFC has chosen a sector approach to ensure that its investments prepare people for employment in industries where jobs exist, are not likely to be outsourced, and provide good incomes and opportunities for career advancement. LAWFC’s three key industry sectors for workforce partnership investment—healthcare, goods movement, and construction—were chosen based on the following criteria: projected industry growth in Los Angeles County over the next seven years; availability of entry level jobs with career ladders; availability of jobs for the target population of lower-skilled adults; wage scales; and jobs that are not likely to be outsourced.

By investing in the three targeted sectors, LAWFC aims to create a regional environment in which job security and career advancement opportunities are readily available to low-wage workers, while also meeting the workforce needs of those key industry sectors.

To increase business vitality, LAWFC works with the Greater Los Angeles area Chamber of Commerce to engage select employers in the adoption of effective employer practices through seminars and peer networking concerning the exploration of human resource practices and policies that improve business outcomes hiring and training low-income, low-skilled workers. Employers also participate in the design and implementation of sectoral workforce partnerships and in the development of relevant job-training programs.

LAWFC is working to make the publicly funded workforce development system more engaged in career advancement and sectoral programming by convening the seven local Workforce Investment Boards in Los Angeles County with community colleges, adult education, and the regional economic development administration for regular monthly networking and co-planning meetings.

Labor Market Analysis

The following files provide an analysis of Los Angeles regional labor market.  The analysis is intended to provide a picture into overall employment conditions and structural changes in this local economy, focusing on the period from 2001-2007.  Though this data does not capture changes associated with the  recent 2008 recession, it should still provide useful insights into medium-term demographic and employment changes.

The data analyzed here comes from two major sources:  The American Community Survey 2007 (and 1990 & 2000 Decennial Census for some charts) from the U.S. Census Bureau; and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For a full guide to the data content, structure, and how it might be used, please listen to the June 16, 2009, recorded webinar available here.
 

Los_Angeles_Data.zip

Los_Angeles_Notes.xls