Catalyzing Funding Connections
Through the new Catalyze Registry, initiatives focused on talent pipelines will have a new platform for sharing their ideas, plans and anticipated impact with audiences of potential funders
By Jon Schnur
November 2, 2022
As part of the White House Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge and call to action this summer, President Biden announced today substantial commitments from across the country to equitable workforce development that supports good jobs building our nation’s infrastructure.
One of the centerpiece announcements is $70 million in aligned philanthropic commitments from foundations working with the Families and Workers Fund, the What Works Plus Collaborative, and America Achieves. This includes more than $50 million in new philanthropic funding and a commitment to secure an additional $20 million in philanthropic funding for workforce development and equitable access to quality infrastructure jobs.
A key component to securing that funding is the Catalyze Registry, which America Achieves and the What Works Plus Collaborative are launching today. The registry is an innovative hub and matchmaking service that will help connect promising local talent pipeline initiatives – which seek to build skilled, diverse talent pools for upwardly mobile infrastructure jobs – with foundations and other nonprofit organizations that might fund those efforts.
One of the important and needed bipartisan efforts in recent years was the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by Congress and the Biden Administration. This law will help create good jobs and strengthen the economy in communities across the country as they rebuild roads, bridges and rails, and ensure everyone has access to high-speed internet. But this critical national effort will not succeed without ensuring that qualified, local workers from all backgrounds are prepared and hired for these good jobs.
That’s why the Biden Administration has rightly focused the country on the need to help workers from all backgrounds prepare for and access quality infrastructure jobs. Successful implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will depend on sustained commitments and effective programs putting America’s talented and diverse workforce to work. Commitments from America Achieves and our partners are a response to this imperative and to the Infrastructure Talent Pipeline Challenge.
Critical to the effort will be information sharing and storytelling. America Achieves will support coalitions – partnerships of local and regional employers, community colleges and labor and workforce groups, community based organizations and intermediaries, among others – as they build profiles in the registry. Their profiles will include summary information about their projects, including partners, funding needs, geography – as well as photos to bring their stories to life. Finally, they will include any federal proposals and links to websites with more information. These profiles will show to funders the transformative potential of their work to improve lives through pathways to good jobs in in-demand sectors like broadband, construction, and electrification.
The leader of one of those coalitions, Maud Daudon of Career Connect Washington, told us: "We are excited to be a part of this registry as we look to maximize the impact of federal funding by attracting philanthropic dollars to fill in for critical activities that public dollars cannot support.”
The registry will be a one-stop source of information for philanthropic organizations looking to connect with local and regional initiatives that are applying for funding from various public programs. America Achieves will support funders as they engage with the registry by easily searching and filtering proposals based on their funding priorities and mission, and we will follow up with coalitions and initiatives that may align.
Example profile
In partnering to help create the registry, America Achieves and the What Works Plus Collaborative are responding to a collective desire expressed by funders across the country for additional, creative ways to support these innovative efforts and to have a one-stop hub to view opportunities to provide funding.
“The recent surge in federal infrastructure funding offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance equity, fight climate change, and create good jobs in communities across the country,” said Sasha Beder-Schenker, a program director at What Works Plus. “This public-private partnership will help further these goals by enabling philanthropy to scale needed support for initiatives that build a diverse talent pool for good infrastructure jobs,” she added.
Funders will be able to search the registry for any key words, as well as filter and sort by fields – such as geography served and sector – that can help them identify potential projects to support. The image on the left shows an example of the profiles funders will be able to see.
The initial focus of the registry will be initiatives centered on workforce efforts aligned with federal infrastructure funding. Through philanthropic funding, America Achieves will also seek to increase the number of initiatives included in the registry to include promising, inclusive, place-based economic growth coalitions and workforce efforts.
As a result of Congress and the Biden Administration's inspiring leadership on this issue – and the commitment of our mission-driven philanthropic partners – people across the country, from small towns to big cities, will have access to pathways leading them to good jobs and careers in infrastructure and beyond. At the same time, employers and communities will benefit from connecting with the workers and talent pool needed to repair our roads and bridges, build out broadband, and expand access to electric charging stations across our nation, among other areas of great need.
You can read more about today’s announcement in this press release. If you work for a foundation seeking to have impact in the spirit of the Talent Pipeline Challenge, you can learn more about how to sign up for the registry here. If you are involved in a local or regional effort to create new pathways to good jobs in in-demand infrastructure sectors, you can learn more about how to sign up here.
And if you’ve got questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, at catalyze@americaachieves.org.
Jon Schnur is the Chief Executive Officer of America Achieves.
