Third Sector to Support Four-State Cohort Building Inclusive Climate Workforce Initiatives

Third Sector, in partnership with the Families and Workers Fund, announced that it will support over the next 11 months a cohort of four states – Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and New Mexico – in designing workforce initiatives to build a pipeline of quality jobs in the climate and infrastructure sectors. Third Sector’s support is part of the Fund’s Powering Climate and Infrastructure Careers Challenge, which will support 14 awardees in total.

“Having the opportunity to support states looking to advance sustainability and build an inclusive, diverse workforce while doing so is very important to us,” said Caroline Whistler, CEO and Co-Founder of Third Sector. “This work has the potential to transform the lives of millions of people in these four states and put them on a path toward meaningful work that also sustains them and their families.”

The four core government partners from each state are:

Third Sector will work with each state – both as a cohort and in direct 1:1 technical assistance –  to develop strategic plans for building an inclusive workforce in these industries that center worker voice, implement effective data governance systems around job quality and equity, and improve the effectiveness of existing workforce training. Third Sector will also collaborate with the UC Berkeley Labor Center to support each state team in defining and operationalizing job quality. 

Leveraging its expertise in outcomes-focused technical assistance, Third Sector will support each state in building and sustaining its internal capacity to identify and measure outcomes for the success of its initiatives and ensure that the state’s plans meet the project’s equity goals of ensuring that women, people in rural communities, and Black and Brown people have the opportunity to obtain careers in the climate and infrastructure sectors.

Ultimately, at the end of the engagement, each state will pilot these policies and begin building a pipeline of quality jobs in its climate industries.