Partnering for Equity: How Sector Partnerships Are Tackling Workforce Disparities

There is a growing base of evidence demonstrating that sector strategies can produce positive outcomes for lower-income workers in terms of employment, income, and career advancement outcomes. At the same time, despite gains in recent decades, significant racial gaps in median income and labor market participation persist, with African Americans and Latinos working and earning less, on average, that Non-Hispanic Whites. As such, sector initiatives would appear to have promise as an important tool for advancing racial equity. Yet, the majority of sector partnerships presently discuss their work as “population neutral,” leading some observers to ask whether the lack of a more explicit racial equity goal among more sector initiatives is a missed opportunity.

The Ray Marshall Center, along with Workforce Matters (a consulting firm that provides innovative strategies and workforce solutions), are proposing to launch a partnership to explore via a survey and series of interviews 1) If and how existing sector partnerships are addressing race equity issues; and 2) The most promising practices among those initiatives that are doing so.