The Implementation of America’s Promise Job-Driven Training Grants report describes how 23 grantee sites across 28 states utilized $111 million in America’s Promise grant funds to create and expand regional workforce partnerships—including workforce development agencies, institutions of higher education, economic development agencies, employers, and community-based organizations—aimed at preparing workers for careers in middle- to high-skilled industries and occupations. Through virtual site visits, phone interviews, a grantee survey, partner network survey, and grantees’ performance data, the evaluation examines the approaches America’s Promise grantees used to establish regional partnerships and provide services to unemployed and underemployed individuals, and incumbent workers.

Findings from this study, the latest in a growing evidence base of career pathways and related sector-based training programs, illustrate that:

• Federal funding can act as a catalyst to break down siloes and grow new partnerships between the workforce system, employers, and training providers, better aligning public and private resources. 74% of the grantees’ 593 employer partners were newly established for the grant, with an average of 21 employer partners per grantee. The emphasis on strong partnerships reduced competition between training providers with similar missions to meet participant and employer needs.
• Regional partnerships, together with the right mix of training and supportive services, can proactively respond to meet both employer and job seeker needs in high-demand industry sectors. Employers in the partnerships were specifically recruited for their willingness to hire participants, and worked with grantees and training providers to offer work-based learning opportunities, apprenticeships, internships, and other on-the-job training for participants.
• Participants viewed supportive wraparound services as a differentiator for their own success in the program. Services like case management and work readiness programs were offered in tandem with training programs.

Beyond this report, the grantees’ implementation experiences are further explored in a series of issue briefs examining how the partnerships responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, employer voices, and employer engagement to strengthen the pipeline of skilled workers from 2016-2020.