About Generation Work
The Generation Work partnership in Northeast Ohio addresses the systemic and institutional barriers to work that young adults of color and other youth from low-income families face, and helps them attain the necessary education and training to secure meaningful careers.
Traditional education and training models are failing to equip young people, especially young adults of color, in Greater Cleveland and surrounding Cuyahoga County with the skills and credentials necessary to land jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.
Black Greater Clevelanders are less likely to find employment, and when they do secure work, on average earn lower pay than their white counterparts. At the same time, employers in the critical sectors of manufacturing, healthcare, information technology (IT), and other areas of economic growth, have difficulty filling job openings.
Our Focus
Listening to worker voice and applying a job quality framework to help employers improve hiring, retention, and advancement of young adults.
Employers interested in successfully attracting and retaining young adult talent can benefit from better understanding worker’s preferences and priorities, and seeking ways to adapt workplace practices to support their onboarding and career development.
Building capacity to support employer practice change, elevate worker voice, and strengthen system alignment.
Partners worked to identify a common definition of Job Quality and approach to employer engagement shared across the collaborative focused on elevating young adult voice to inform employer practice change and improve outcomes.
A steering committee of organizational leaders met regularly to share updates, troubleshoot challenges, and align priorities.
Generation Work has prioritized the input of young adults in discussions about employer practices, workforce development programing, and work-place priorities with an eye on what will improve retention and advancement. It has become clear that young adults afre looking for more than ‘just a job’. Their success depends on workforce conditions that support stability, learning, and advancement.
The Towards Employment World of Work (WOW) council was created to provide a forum for young adults to share their input on with employers, as well as to help partners refine programming based specifically on the needs of adults.
Our Impact
Looking ahead, partners are focused on carrying forward the Generation Work principles of positive youth development, engaging employers around job quality, and promoting racial equity and young adult worker voice throughout future programmatic offerings.
Partners are committed to continuing to:
- Center job quality and youth worker voice as core strategies for retention, advancement, and equity in employer engagement.
- Continue to work on providing consistent, values-aligned conversations with employers—particularly around onboarding, supervision, advancement, and worker voice.
- Use shared tools and learning processes to reflect on what is working and adapt approaches accordingly based on what we are learning
Our Northeast Ohio Approach
The Generation Work partnership in Northeast Ohio provides a framework for local policymakers and providers of workforce services for young people to share new learning, strengthen referral relationships, improve data accessibility and promote racial equity efforts. The partnership’s framework is designed to improve current practice, connect, and align systems actors and institutionalize change.
Our Key Partners in Generation Work
The Generation Work partnership in Northeast Ohio provides a framework for local policymakers and providers of workforce services for young people to share new learning, strengthen referral relationships, improve data accessibility and promote racial equity efforts. The partnership’s framework is designed to improve current practice, connect, and align systems actors and institutionalize change.
The Centers for Families and Children offers integrated health care approach, 5-star early learning programs, and workforce training to underserved individuals, families, and children.
Cuyahoga County administers state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding and workforce development programming through its offices of human services and economic development.
Cuyahoga Community College Advanced Technology Academy (ATA) program offers training at no-cost to students ages 18-24, and industry recognized certificates in demand driven occupations. The ATA program is workforce driven, designed to increase occupational skills, employment opportunities, and retention.
The Fund for Our Economic Future is a collaborative of foundations, corporations, universities, health care systems, private businesses and civic agencies that focuses on advancing economic growth in Northeast Ohio.
OhioGuidestone, one of the largest behavioral health agencies in the state, has been helping individuals reset their paths, reclaim their autonomy and restore their purpose for more than 155 years through community counseling, substance use disorder treatment, early childhood services, psychiatric care, workforce development training and more.
The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Workforce Development Board operates OMJ|Cleveland-Cuyahoga, which houses the YRC and administers Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding.
Towards Employment is a workforce development organization that builds career pathways to successful, long-term employment while creating a talent pipeline for local businesses.
Youth Opportunities Unlimited helps teens and young adults succeed by providing educational and workforce opportunities, skills development courses and access to career pathways.
Learn More About Our Programs
Generation Work Resources