A National Network of Workforce Leaders
If you are interested in participating in a free professional development opportunity through future fellowship cohorts, join our email list. RFA’s State and Local Workforce Fellowship works with data- and evidence-driven state and local government leaders to make tangible progress in improving workforce outcomes. The State and Local Workforce Fellowship offers workforce leaders the opportunity to:
- Expand their professional network
- Gain new skills through trainings and resources and
- Catalyze projects in their jurisdictions through direct technical assistance.
The map above shows current states and localities participating
in our State and Local Workforce Fellowship.
Our Focus
The State and Local Workforce Fellowship works alongside governments from jurisdictions across the U.S. on the following areas:
- Advancing Job Quality: Developing a job quality framework to employ evidence-based interventions, ensuring workforce programming invests in programs, partners, and businesses that have or lead to high quality jobs.
- Evidence-Based Workforce Spending: Using evidence- and outcomes-based grantmaking, contracting, and budgeting to set goals, define performance metrics, develop an evidence framework, link funding to outcomes, support equity and innovation in funding models, and actively manage grants and contracts.Core Fellowship Components
What Our Fellows Say
“Our state is on the right track! We are putting together a Job Quality framework for the state.”
2024 Fellow, State of Washington
“I’m really glad that there’s a quality jobs playbook for us to lean on. Grateful for the 1:1 time as well! I understand procurement now!”
2024 Fellow, Oregon County-Level Agency
“It was really great to learn the formal structure of creating evidence based procurements and how that is done across different states.”
2024 Fellow, New York City
“It’s great to have technical assistance available to states and to have organizations like RFA to facilitate and make connections.”
2024 Fellow, State of Connecticut
What to Expect From the Fellowship
Training delivered by subject matter experts develop Fellows’ the skills and knowledge to implement evidence-based strategies. Examples from past trainings include defining and prioritizing evidence in grants and contracts, active contract/grant management, outcomes-based contracting, job quality and equity measurement and improvement, and evaluation and evidence-building.
Workforce-specific technical assistance and strategy support help Fellows identify, scope, and make tangible progress on a specific workforce challenge. TA can take the form of capacity and skill building, research and resource provision, directed feedback and review, etc.
A peer network of top government innovators from around the country, offering Fellows new ideas and approaches and providing direction and motivation when challenges inevitably arise.
Access to action-oriented tools such as sample RFPs, legislative language, toolkits, and strategies for Fellows leading organizational change.
Spotlighting and celebrating Fellows’ successes to drive public and political support and build demand among a broader group of workforce development decision-makers, through articles, speaking opportunities, op-eds, Congressional staff briefings, meetings with U.S. Department of Labor officials, and public events.