Casey Grants Support Community-Led Workforce Development in Atlanta

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has award­ed sev­er­al non­prof­its $350,000 in com­bined grants to help res­i­dents in South­west Atlanta strength­en their employ­ment skills and find fam­i­ly-sus­tain­ing jobs that align with their career goals and interests.

Awardees include:

• Atlanta Cen­ter for Self-Suf­fi­cien­cy, Cen­ter for Black Women’s Well­ness and Com­mu­ni­ty­Build Ven­tures, which have teamed up to offer employ­ment ser­vices, includ­ing entre­pre­neur­ial coach­ing and indus­try-spe­cif­ic skills train­ing, to women;
• Emmaus House and Per Scholas, which have part­nered to pro­vide infor­ma­tion-tech­nol­o­gy train­ing and job place­ment sup­port to unem­ployed and under­em­ployed residents;
• Gen­er­a­tion and Sav­ing Our Sons and Sis­ters Inter­na­tion­al, which are work­ing togeth­er to train young peo­ple for hos­pi­tal­i­ty jobs at a forth­com­ing mixed-income devel­op­ment near Harts­field-Jack­son Inter­na­tion­al Air­port; and
• Urban League of Greater Atlanta, which will receive plan­ning sup­port to expand its edu­ca­tion and train­ing pro­grams to serve more South­side residents.

To receive fund­ing, appli­cants had to demon­strate com­pe­ten­cy in sev­er­al areas, includ­ing res­i­dent recruit­ment and engage­ment, part­ner­ship build­ing with local employ­ers, skills and job-readi­ness train­ing and a com­mit­ment to racial equi­ty and inclusion.

“These orga­ni­za­tions under­stand the local hir­ing envi­ron­ment and know how to sup­port res­i­dents in ways that will con­nect them to mean­ing­ful oppor­tu­ni­ties,” says Janelle Williams, who leads the Casey Foundation’s eco­nom­ic inclu­sion efforts in Atlanta.

By fund­ing part­ner­ships — and not just indi­vid­ual orga­ni­za­tions — Casey hopes to achieve greater results for res­i­dents and break through the bar­ri­ers that keep Atlantans of col­or from find­ing careers that inter­est them, align with their skills and allow them to thrive, says Williams.

Learn more about promis­ing work­force approach­es in Atlanta