Workforce Connect
Pairing applicants with employers
The Need
Too many people are stuck in jobs that lack both living wages to meet today’s needs and advancement opportunities to plan for the future. How can someone who struggles financially while working full time afford to go back to school to earn a degree and get a better job?
Educational barriers, racial disparities, and gender biases also affect the ability for many in Greater Cleveland to improve their economic standing and provide for their families:
- In Cuyahoga County, individuals who are Black or Hispanic are less likely to gradulate from high school than white or Asian students, and they're less than half as likely to finish college.
- Less than half of young adults in Cleveland have attended at least some college. College graduates stand to earn $1 million more than peers who don't have undergraduate degrees.
- In Cuyahoga County, Latina women who work full time earn just over $30,000 a year. White non-Hispanic men earn more than twice that amount.
- The living wage in Cuyahoga County is $56,000, meaning that, on average, only households headed by white men could support a family as the sole breadwinner.
The Help
Workforce Connect aims to improve economic mobility and reduce racial disparities in economic outcomes in Cuyahoga County.
The organization connects workers to well-paying career paths and pairs employers to skilled talent in the IT, health care, and manufacturing job sectors.
Career counselors conduct training sessions for job seekers around career opportunities. More than 100 Workplace Connect job seekers who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 were trained and placed in IT and manufacturing careers.
Workforce Connect also works with employers to develop and implement internal policy changes that boost workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Learn More
United Way 211
United Way 211 connects callers to nonprofit agencies that provide career counseling and job training/placement services. Dial 211 or visit 211oh.org to connect with a navigator who can help.
United Way of Greater Cleveland is funding six Community Hub grants that are tackling issues related to housing stability. Learn more about the nonprofits and their programs:
