December 3, 2021
Tameshia Bridges Mansfield, JFF’s vice president of workforce innovation, on reimagining our systems for equitable advancement
“Opportunity doesn’t happen in 30-, 60-, 90-day chunks,” JFF’s vice president of workforce innovation, Tameshia Bridges Mansfield, told the City Club of Cleveland in October. “Opportunity happens over a lifetime.”
This long-term nature of opportunity, Bridges Mansfield continued, is why we need a workforce development system for learners and workers that is accountable in creating good jobs, not just innovative. What comprises a successful system? She believes the following four components are mandatory for a system that drives economic advancement for everyone:
Bridges Mansfield and JFF focus on transforming the education and workforce systems because they’re not equitable now, and they don’t promise economic advancement for all, but they can and they should. We don’t pretend that reimagining is quick or easy, but we encourage the learn-to-work ecosystem to take risks. It’s OK to step out of our comfort zone, especially if the goal is collaborating to make a prosperous and fair future of work a reality.
Watch Bridges Mansfield’s full speech to the City Club of Cleveland, where she elaborates on the four pillars of an effective system for everyone who relies on it, from learners and workers to families and employers.
The House Education and Labor Committee’s proposed bill recognizes the need for robust investment in our nation’s workforce system as well as significant resources for college access and success. JFF urges Congress to advance this…
Tameshia Bridges Mansfield is vice president of the Workforce & Regional Economies practice at JFF. She leads work focused on advancing transformative and equitable systems change solutions in workforce and economic development. She does this with…