This report provides the foundation for an evaluation of federal grants supporting partnerships between the workforce investment system and faith-based and community organizations (FBCO). ; Traditionally, FBCOs have not collaborated with the federal and state workforce investment system; however, because they have a long history of providing social services in the United States and continue to serve large numbers of clients, they are potentially valuable partners to the One-Stop system as it seeks to provide universal access to services needed to enter and advance in the workforce.

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The report draws on studies of FBCOs in providing a wide range of services. ; It highlights studies of previous collaborations with the workforce investment system, describing the potential benefits as well as barriers to those collaborations. An overview of the policy and legal context for the grants and an overview of the strategies developed by the grantees to assist some of the hardest-to-serve populations, including ex-offenders, those with disabilities and individuals with limited English proficiency, are included. ; The paper concludes with a description of the grants to workforce investment boards that are the focus of this evaluation.