Strengthening Training and Advancement of Essential Workers in Low-Wage Jobs: Recommended Actions for Funders

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an economic and health toll on many essential workers, especially immigrant workers and low- or minimum-wage workers. A considerable percentage of essential work is performed by immigrants and refugees. The Beeck Center, with support from the Mariam Assefa Fund of World Education Services, conducted a year-long study in order to identify strategies to enhance economic mobility and upskilling for immigrant and refugee workers. In the report Strengthening Training and Advancement of Essential Workers in Low-Wage Jobs: Recommended Actions for Funders, researchers consulted with experts in workforce training, immigration integration, and finance to identify shortcomings in existing workforce development programs. The report targets its recommendations at two major groups with the aim of generating capital and investments that would accelerate the participation of stakeholders to fund refugee and immigrant workforce development. First, the report highlights the importance of grantmakers in funding research and data collection to build the knowledge base and capital structures required for effective programming, as well as by supporting pilot projects that provide training and other scaffolding services for immigrant and refugee workers. Second, the report emphasizes the role of impact investors (stakeholders that use their capital to have targeted impact) on, for instance, the workforce development of low-income groups. The authors recommend that these investors finance organizations that disburse debt capital to low-income communities in order to create borrower-friendly financing mechanisms through which workers can access educational and training programs. By identifying concrete policy recommendations, the report offers practical strategies to address the financial vulnerability of immigrant and refugee workers compounded by their role as “essential” employees so that they may access higher-paying jobs that can withstand any instability in the U.S. economy. (Sonali Ravi for The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute)