Ladders to the middle class
Nonprofit training programs give low-income Americans a step up by teaching job skills
For Amber Mitchell Ikpe, learning computer software skills was only part of the experience at Year Up, a nonprofit job training program.
The coursework, followed by a six-month internship at a company, included classes on speaking in public, teamwork, professional behavior and attire. There was a closet with men’s and women’s business clothes, and an ironing board.
Year Up also arranged help with basic needs including subsidized child care, medical insurance and food assistance. When her car broke down, she got a grant to get it fixed.
“Without all that, I would never have finished,” Ikpe recalled.
After graduating from Year Up, Ikpe landed a technology job with a near six-figure salary. Five years later, she is a homeowner in suburban Atlanta and considers herself upper middle class. She now works for an education and networking nonprofit for Black technology managers.
The Year Up program is one of a relative handful of nonprofits that have established track records of lifting low-income Americans into jobs that can be ladders to the middle class.
They share a holistic approach to workforce development. They foster close relations with employers. They offer training for in-demand work skills and coaching in “soft skills,” such as communication and teamwork. And they provide or arrange help with daily life challenges, such as child care and transportation.
But while growing, these programs are small. Even larger ones, like Year Up, reach only a few thousand students a year.
The Biden administration is trying to prod often ineffective local and regional training programs to adopt the comprehensive model of the nonprofits. The administration has allocated $500 million in grants for its Good Jobs Challenge, a part of the American Rescue Plan of pandemic relief spending. The 32 grant winners were announced in August, with the money going to communities in 31 states and Puerto Rico for workforce development programs.
The goal of the government’s jobs-challenge competition over the next few years is to generate more than 50,000 good-paying jobs — which means more than the prevailing wage for an occupation in a region — with benefits. Creating opportunities for disadvantaged workers is a priority.
The jobs-challenge competition required the local applicants to offer training, services and engagement with employers — the ingredients seen in programs like Year Up. It did not seek a grant, but may work with local and regional grantees.
The U.S. government spends less on job training and support for workers, as a share of economic activity, than most other developed countries. And private businesses have traditionally regarded spending on training as an obligation that is largely beyond its principal, profit-making role.
But there are signs of change in corporate America that, if expanded, could open the door for many more low-income workers, according to workforce experts.
Corporations are beginning to change their hiring behavior, prodded by a tight labor market and pressure to diversify their workforces. More companies, experts say, are broadening their recruiting efforts, adding apprenticeship and other on-thejob training programs.