Accelerator Will Support the Development of New Technologies To Increase Wages and Job Placements for Workers with Low Incomes
New York, NY, March 3, 2023 ⎼ Today, Schmidt Futures’ Opportunity Engines program announced the selection of six innovative workforce initiatives developing new technologies to improve the training and placement of workers with low incomes to join the Workforce Training Accelerator. A six-month program, the Accelerator provides technical support which will aid in the successful development and launch of new technological tools and models.
Opportunity Engines aims to mobilize talent with innovative ideas to increase wages for workers with low incomes through job-training initiatives that utilize technology to help more people at scale. The Accelerator aims to generate $150M in aggregate wage gains for over 25,000 low-income job seekers. The selected grantees will serve workers with low incomes directly, as well as partner with community colleges, workforce development boards, and other institutions to scale their innovations.
The Accelerator awarded a total of $9M to the six workforce development organizations this past Winter 2022. Grantees were selected from over 100 interested applicants following a call for technical proposals to address hard problems in the workforce sector. Applications were reviewed by an external panel of 12 workforce development, technology, product development, and labor policy experts. The panel scored the applications on the basis of their innovative proposals, outstanding leadership teams, track records, and commitment to equity.
Schmidt Futures is proud to announce the following organizations have been selected for the Workforce Training Accelerator:
“By propelling low-income workers and students into their first family-sustaining, upwardly mobile job, these organizations are already delivering extraordinary outcomes,” said Elizabeth Young McNally, Executive Vice President at Schmidt Futures. “We’re excited to help them leverage technology and novel models to catalyze their growth and scale, and to enable more participants to work with them.”
During the six-month Accelerator, the organizations will begin building out their innovative products and solutions with the support of Schmidt Futures and fellow grantees. This experience will include a collaborative assessment of current organizational and technical competencies, collaboration and community building, and guidance from technologists and leaders as they create their replicable, scalable technical solutions. The CEOs from each organization will also form a Task Force to identify broader recommendations in a forthcoming report on catalyzing further innovation in workforce training.
For more information on Opportunity Engines and the Workforce Training Accelerator, please visit: https://www.schmidtfutures.org/our-work/opportunity-engines/
About Schmidt Futures:
Founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative that brings talented people together in networks to prove out their ideas and solve hard problems in science and society. To learn more about our method and the diverse types of capital and tools that we deploy, visit https://www.schmidtfutures.org
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