The Upjohn Institute's research initiative, Promise: Investing in Community, held a public convening June 6 of both its research affiliates and its policy advisory committee. The initiative explores how communities can create and share prosperity by helping residents get and maintain good jobs and this convening served to connect researchers with similar areas of interest to discuss recent studies and policy implications.
The in-person meeting included discussions on topics including making connections:
- Between employers and trainees and trainees and workers;
- Between educational programs, including place-based scholarships, and the workforce; and
- Between workforce programs, service providers and employers to provide wraparound support.
Participants also discussed place-based strategies to target job creation and retention along with improving communities' access to information and funding opportunities.
A practitioner panel included officials from the city of Kalamazoo, the Kalamazoo Promise and the Upjohn Institute's Pulse.