Greenville Regional Funder Collaborative Awarded Grant from National Fund for Workforce Solutions

GREENVILLE, SC – February 15, 2011 – The Greenville Regional Funder Collaborative (GRFC) announced today that it is one of six communities in the South and Southwest and the only community in the Carolinas to be awarded funds to develop innovative approaches to job training and career support from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and its national implementation partner, Jobs for the Future. The grant is supported by funds awarded to the National Fund through the federal government’s landmark Social Innovation Fund.

The GRFC will receive $300,000 over two years to support expansion of its work in and around Greenville County based on the principles of the National Fund: building strong partnerships with employers, focusing on industry sectors important to the regional economy, and treating employees and employers as equally important customers.

“This funding will strengthen local efforts to ensure that current and future workforce needs in Greenville and the Upstate will be filled by local, qualified workers,” said Butch Kirven, Greenville County Council Chair. “The purpose is to work with local employers to reduce training and recruitment costs while concurrently helping people to become qualified for higher skill jobs, with higher pay, that are already available and that will increase in numbers in the Greenville area.”

The GRFC’s mission is to raise, coordinate and direct funding and advocacy in support of innovative workforce partnerships that link low income workers with sustainable employment in industries critical to our region. Based on the Upstate’s strong manufacturing presence and growth outlook, the GRFC will create partnerships focused on the advanced manufacturing workforce. Workforce partnerships leverage employer input to assist job seekers and employers in meeting workforce goals. GRFC expects to serve 200 job seekers in year one and 300 job seekers in year two.

The GRFC began as an initiative of the United Way of Greenville County’s Financial Stability Council. Greenville Works, a partnership between twelve education, workforce development, and economic development organizations, serves as the workforce intermediary and provides staff support to the GRFC. The Appalachian Council of Governments serves as the fiscal agent. Additional members of the GRFC include the Community Foundation of Greenville, Greenville Area Development Corporation, the Greenville Chamber, Greenville Technical College, the Greenville Workforce Investment Board, and readySC. Membership is growing to include funders from multiple public and private sources.

The grants announced today represent a combination of direct funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund and an equal amount of matching funds raised from private donors. The Social Innovation Fund is an innovative federal program that addresses major challenges confronting communities by growing high-impact nonprofit organizations delivering proven solutions.

Each of the new National Fund sites, selected through a competitive process, has a local funding collaborative in place, comprised of an array of private and public funders, investing in sector-based, workforce partnerships.

In addition to Greenville, SC, these organizations have also received grants from the National Fund today:

• Metropolitan Atlanta Workforce Funders Collaborative, Atlanta GA: $300,000 over two years.
• Delta Workforce Funding Collaborative, Jackson MS: $300,000 over two years.
• Working Partners of Greater Louisville, Louisville KY: $300,000 over two years.
• Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council, Mobile AL: $300,000 over two years.
• Greater New Orleans Workforce Funders Collaborative, New Orleans LA: $300,000 over two years.

About National Fund for Workforce Solutions:

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is an award-winning national initiative focused on helping low-wage workers obtain good careers while at the same time ensuring that employers have the high-quality skills that will enable them to succeed in this highly competitive economy. Since 2008, the National Fund has raised nearly $24 million to support 24 communities that have contributed an additional $104 million in locally raised resources from 216 different funding sources, including community foundations, United Ways, corporate foundations, workforce investment boards, chambers of commerce and state agencies. Each of these communities has created local funding collaboratives that are collectively investing in more than 80 sectoral workforce partnerships. The addition of these six new sites brings the total number of communities where the National Fund is working to 30.

Ten national funders lead the effort: Annie E. Casey Foundation; the California Endowment; Ford Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Microsoft; The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation; The Hitachi Foundation; the Prudential Foundation; and the Walmart Foundation.

About Jobs for the Future:

Jobs for the Future develops, implements, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In 200 communities in 41 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.

About the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the Social Innovation Fund:

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America, and leads President Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. The Social Innovation Fund is an initiative of the Corporation for that improves the lives of people in low-income U.S. communities. Through an innovative public-private partnership, the Social Innovation Fund and selected local and national grantmakers co-invest in programs that increase the scale of community-based solutions that have evidence of real impact in the areas of youth development, economic opportunity or healthy futures. Every Federal dollar invested is matched with private funds, and all programs are rigorously evaluated. As a result, the most effective approaches can be expanded to reach more people in need and key lessons can be captured and broadly shared. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.

About Greenville Works

Greenville Works is a partnership between twelve education, workforce development, and economic development organizations focused on implementing long-term economic and workforce development strategies in Greenville County. To meet the demands of current and future workforce requirements, Greenville Works’ first focus is to ensure that organizational goals are driven by feedback from the business community. Goals are to: 1) improve entry-level skills in alignment with industry requirements; 2) build relevant information systems that reflect industry and job growth trends; and 3) organize effective industry clusters that provide opportunities for industry growth through employee readiness, incentive optimization, and public policy responsiveness. Members of Greenville Works include the City of Greenville, the Greenville Area Development Corporation, the Greenville Chamber, Greenville County Schools, the Greenville County Workforce Investment Board, Greenville Tech
nical College, Personal Pathways for Success, readySC, South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, the South Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the United Way of Greenville County, and the University Center of Greenville.