This report describes a select group of Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) that received federal grants to bring non-traditional partners – in particular faith-based organizations – into the workforce investment system.  The WIBS have developed a range of promising approaches for collaborating with faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) with the express purpose of expanding access to the system for both these organizations and the hardest-to-serve clientele they traditionally serve.

The report begins with a description of the grantees, the policy context for the grants, and the grantee goals for collaborating with the workforce investment system.  It presents the evaluators’ findings from site visits and other data collection efforts and outlines WIB strategies to create and sustain collaborations with FBCOs and the FBCO sub-awardees.  This report builds on a background paper that highlights the legal context from this effort and outlines the potential benefits as well as barriers to collaborations between the system and FBCOs.  The project’s final report will include additional findings as well as an analysis of customer outcome data collected by the grantees.