Springfield Works

Springfield WORKS: Partners work together to eliminate the silos and disconnected programs and services that make it difficult for our low-income residents to find and keep a job and employers to find qualified workers.

Today, there is an extreme disconnect between employers who need qualified workers and low-income residents seeking meaningful employment in Springfield. To illustrate the scope of the city's current problem, 40 out of every 100 Springfield residents who are of working age are not currently employed. By bringing together diverse stakeholders groups - including employers, secondary and post-secondary education providers, economic and workforce development professionals, workforce training providers, community-based organizations, municipal government, and residents - The Springfield Works Initiative holds all of us accountable for making sure the City of Springfield develops a bold and innovative strategy for our residents that have significant barriers towards full participation in the labor force. This bold goal will be achieved by utilizing technology, collaboration, impact-driven coaching techniques, and data in order to empower residents to understand the opportunities that exist, the skills required to pursue those opportunities, and the training opportunities and support services that will enable them to be successful.

Collective Impact: "We saw the great impacts of so many groups first-hand, but we also were confounded by the issues siloes, geographic turf wars, and egos that prevented any real progress on solving complex community problems. Issues like education, economic security, housing and health are not fragmented in peoples lives, but the systems that serve them are.

Collective impact efforts must be as rigorous about culture as they are about data and strategy if they wish to achieve enduring change." Paul Schmitz

SpringfieldWorks

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For more information contact: Anne Kandilis at a.kandilis@westernmassedc.com