The Northeast Ohio nonprofit ecosystem is rich with organizations that bring decades of experience serving their communities. At OhioGuidestone, Towards Employment, and Youth Opportunities Unlimited, we have more than a century of combined experience helping Ohioans access workforce opportunities. We believe that while talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.
We urge you to make strengthening Ohio’s workforce system a top priority by closing the gap between the talent already present in Ohio’s communities and the biggest constraint on businesses’ growth—the acquisition and retention of qualified workers.
Tapping into the existing talent pool requires building an expanded talent pipeline that translates business needs into soft and hard skills and qualifications, reaching into communities where talent abounds but opportunity is limited, providing work-based learning, matching newly trained talent with open positions, and supporting incumbent workers in retaining and advancing their careers.
Our organizations are eager to assist you in expanding access to the talent of communities we know well. The jobseekers we serve may face poverty, homelessness, a history of substance abuse, incarceration, or aging out of foster care. They primarily come from neighborhoods with high poverty rates, where schools underperform, the internet is unreliable, and public transportation to jobs is limited.
We work to mitigate barriers to upward wage mobility and to meet local business hiring needs through identifying talent, training, coaching, wraparound services, and strong employer engagement that aligns job preparation with business needs.
Skills-training alone cannot address workforce barriers.
While we applaud Ohio’s commitment to employer-driven skills training, including the recent $300 million JobsOhio program, skills-training alone cannot address the barriers that prevent many Ohioans from completing training and successfully entering the workforce. To fully connect talent to opportunity, Ohio should strengthen the workforce pipeline.
Recommendations
- Invest in industry sector partnerships that create on-ramps to in-demand careers for untapped talent—Invest in coaching and wraparound services such as transportation, childcare, housing supports and access to behavioral health services, to help people complete training programs and gain the stability necessary to pursue and retain the job opportunities that businesses need to fill.
- Focus on removing barriers that prevent successful employment—Policies such as H.B. 29, which have reduced debt-related driver’s license suspensions, have helped restore connections to employment. Other proposals, such as the WIN Childcare pilot seek to increase access to quality childcare. Continued attention to the barriers that prevent people from working is essential to building a workforce system that works for both Ohioans and employers.
- Pursue policies that promote the financial success of workers—Ohio’s Benefit Bridge program addresses the benefits cliff by attempting to prevent increased employment income from triggering a net loss in benefits, such as healthcare. The pilot was launched with just $8 million in state funding, while current data from one county projects $21 million in taxpayer savings over a decade, and $6.8 million in lifetime state tax revenue from participants. However, this program could do more through larger, more flexible incentives that promote workers’ autonomy. The expansion of work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid recipients adds urgency to investing in workers, ensuring they are prepared to enter and succeed in employment. At the same time, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence requires even closer relationships within the workforce system to understand and respond to changing skill needs.
As Ohio continues to strengthen its workforce, we ask that you take the lead in expanding opportunity for untapped talent, including returning citizens, youth, and those recovering from behavioral health challenges. Greater collaboration and pursuing policies that center worker perspectives provide the key to workforce development success.
Sincerely,
Tania Menesse, President & CEO, Towards Employment
Brant Russell, President and CEO, OhioGuidestone
Craig Dorn, President & CEO, Youth Opportunities Unlimited
