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Implementing the National Fund for Workforce Solutions: The Baseline Evaluation Report

In 2009, a team of researchers completed the Baseline Evaluation Report for the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a multi-year initiative launched in 2007 by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Hitachi, and Harry and Jeanette Weinberg foundations and the U.S. Department of Labor. The National Fund is designed to build workforce partnerships rooted in industry sectors, and to transform institutions to improve labor market outcomes for low-income individuals and employers.

This report describes the National Fund in its first period of implementation, including how the changing environment has begun to shape its strategy and tactics. Because it will serve as a baseline for future evaluations, it describes the goals, strategies, characteristics, and initial outcomes of the initiative in its early stages.

The evaluation found that between 2007 and spring 2009 the National Fund built a strong foundation for meeting its goals, and the initial outcomes in the young initiative appear promising. The National Fund raised approximately $22 million nationally and leveraged $100 million in pledged local funding to expand workforce services for employers and low-income workers, implement promising models of service delivery, and drive reform in workforce institutions and employer practices. The initiative included 21 regional funding collaboratives, with several more expected to join, and 37 local workforce partnerships. The partnerships provided services to 6,306 individuals and 504 employers, placing the National Fund on track to achieve its five-year goal of helping 50,000 low-income workers and 1,000 employers improve their economic futures.