Inquiry Into Building Regional Skills-First Ecosystems 

Across the U.S., regional workforce systems are grappling with the challenge of transitioning to a skills-first economy. While there is conceptual alignment around the value of skills-based practices, implementation efforts remain fragmented due to inconsistent definitions, siloed processes, and limited capacity. 

Made possible with generous support from Walmart, the Inquiry into Building Regional Skills-First Ecosystems engages 12 organizations from across the country to join JFF in a 6-month, customized local research effort.  This research invites a variety of community stakeholders to closely examine key conditions and opportunities for advancing skills-based practices, as well as the challenges that currently prevent progress toward the creation of skills-based economies.  

All participating regions will leverage their data and insights to develop detailed action plans that apply their learning outcomes across their communities and partner networks. In addition, a subset of communities will be selected to receive implementation funding from Walmart, enabling them to put their action plan into motion and to design, prototype, and test an innovation that helps address a specific regional challenge.  

Participating Communities:

Anticipated Outcomes:

All communities will develop a comprehensive action plan based on their research findings and systems-level readiness. These plans will enable organizations to continue building buy-in and momentum while focusing on key activities and objectives as they proceed to drive regional change.  

In addition to the research and design capacity participants will gain through this initiative, the resulting insights will enable the communities and JFF to better understand the following: 

Check out JFF’s Skills-First Resource Hub and subscribe to receive JFF’s Skills-First Newsletter to be the first to receive learning outcomes and updates about this work as they become available.