Analyzing Tools and Resources for Workforce Development Organizations

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic downturn, many nonprofits, and even not-just-for-profits, struggled to establish long-term financial sustainability. But since the start of the pandemic, trusted funding streams have been disrupted — from philanthropic donors to city and state sponsored funding. This has forced organizations to pivot their strategies and reevaluate their service offerings to match the changing economic environment.

This has left UMA wondering, within urban manufacturing ecosystems, what tools and resources can workforce development organizations, local branding initiatives, and makerspaces, among so many others, utilize to create more stable revenue models and business plans? How can we make sure that non-profits — which provide services and support to their communities and businesses — remain open, resilient, and able to serve?

To answer those questions, UMA, alongside the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) and the Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) program, have put together a webinar to hear how manufacturing service providers are supporting non-profit, community-based, social impact, or mission-driven organizations create long-term financial stability. You will hear from:

• Steve Heath, Executive Director of FabNewport & 10KSB alum
• Lee Wellington, Founding Executive Director, Urban Manufacturing Alliance
• Robin Haynes, 10KSB Business Advisor
• Shawn Thomas, Entrepreneurial Lending Director, Bridgeway Capital
• Sonia Moin [facilitator], Senior Director of Urban Business Initiatives at ICIC

This is a great chance to hear from service providers that are helping non-profits become more sustainable, and from organizations that have completed the 10kSB program. Through this conversation, we hope attendees will learn how to define organizational resilience, seek out economic development support, and gain deeper insights about opportunities and ideas for business models.

Register for the event here!

Also in this newsletter, you will find:

• The first in a series of posts called the Hidden Talent blog. Author Claire Michaels (Director of Workforce and Hiring at SFMade and Manufacture : San Jose, and longtime UMA member) documented stories of highly-motivated, well-prepared employees who got their start at employment in a manufacturing social enterprise. Read more below.
• Our “What We’ve Been Reading” section, featuring an article that includes our own UMA Board Director, Bernadine Hawes.
• And don’t miss two events today, Wednesday, October 14th!

It’s your work that inspires and connects us to each other, and demonstrates the power of manufacturing as a strategy to promote wealth creation, inclusive communities, and racial equity. We’re so grateful for your leadership.

In Partnership,
The UMA Team

Hidden Talent Blog Series

The first story, of a series of four, we’d like to share is “Akiya: Prepared for the Next Job Ahead.” This post is all about how Bright Endeavors, an employment social enterprise candle company, provides a paying job and supportive services for young moms in Chicago. Read the full story here.

The Hidden Talent Blog Series tells the stories of highly-motivated, well-prepared employees who got their start at an employment social enterprise manufacturing businesses. Manufacturing social enterprises are set up with the intention of offering employment opportunities, training, and support to people who have overcome barriers to employment, while still running a profitable business. With the support of their employers and their own determination, social enterprise employees have turned their lives around and proven their value at work. They are some of the best trained, most loyal employees a business could hope to hire. As manufacturing businesses across the country struggle to find good employees, our intention is that this blog series sheds a light on the potential of social enterprises as a source for manufacturing businesses to find great people.What We’re Reading

Perspectives on Economic Development Initiatives & Strategies
in the Age of COVID-19.

How our cities and communities will recover post-COVID-19 is obviously a hot topic. EConsult Solutions Inc hosted a panel for economic development practitioners to share their perspectives on economic development initiatives and strategies. During this panel, UMA Board Director, Bernadine Hawes, commented, “Clearly, there will be a need for a strong, highly-focused economic development plan once we are past the pandemic. I see the focus as two-fold: first, cities and states, such as Philadelphia, have to map their social capital: which demographic remained, which left, what are the significant changes. For cities, social capital is key. Here is where you will find those who most likely can contribute to resilience and recovery. But it’s important to realize that resilience and recovery are only going to come through fragmenting these business sectors and boring down for where there is resiliency. It could be in a process, in a design, or even in an array of skills. Whole economic sectors don’t go away; they tend to meld and morph into a “future state” which might take years or decades before we understand the change. Cities will need to recognize this quickly and should be doing this now by surveying their business sectors.”Event OpportunitiesDon’t miss two conferences:

• Meeting STEMM Workforce Needs in Boston, MA in the Wake of COVID-19 — Join UMA’s Founding Executive Director, Lee Wellington, as she moderates and hosts a workshop on Meeting Regional STEMM Workforce Needs in the Wake of COVID-19, in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s committee.
• American Cities Rebuilding — A virtual conference out of Newark, NJ covering topics like “Reimagining the Urban Economy” and “Criminal Justice: Equity for All in America’s Cities.” This event runs through Friday, October 16th.