Geri Scott

Program Director, Building Economic Opportunity

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Geri Scott brings more than 25 years of experience with the workforce development system to JFF, where she manages projects that address regional strategies to build and implement dual customer workforce intermediaries. She manages JFF's Pathways out of Poverty and GreenWays initiatives, integrating the innovative workforce partnership and regional funding collaborative approaches to sector organizing and career advancement for lower-skilled adults. She is author of SkillWorks at Three, Funder Collaboratives: A Philanthropic Strategy for Supporting Workforce Intermediaries, Reinventing Workforce Development, A Survey of Selected Work Readiness Certificates, Community Health Worker Advancement: A Research Summary, and Public Benefits and Private Employers.

Ms. Scott has worked with a broad range of workforce development programs in Massachusetts and nationally. As director of Vocational Education Programs for the Massachusetts Department of Manpower Development, she refocused occupational training efforts to incorporate employers' skills standards, nearly doubling the resulting job placement rates. At the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, she managed the Refugee Employment and Education Program, strengthening linkages within the workforce development system to provide access for new Americans to training and job placement.

Formerly the New England regional director for the National Alliance of Business, Ms. Scott also authored or coauthored a number of technical assistance guides for building the capacity of the workforce development system to address human resource development needs. These guides include PIC Leadership Institutes, Practitioners Guide to On the Job Training, and Building Partnerships in Training. As director of the Massachusetts Association of Regional Employment Boards, she provided advocacy and policy guidance to business chairs in the transition from Private Industry Councils to Workforce Investment Boards and participated in the design of the state's One-Stop Career Center demonstration programs.

In her work as an independent consultant, Ms. Scott has provided training and technical assistance to local, state, and federal practitioners on integrating public resources for training and economic development and on quality management practices. She received her Bachelor's in history from Emmanuel College and her Master's in psychology from the University of Massachusetts.