How Cross-Sector Collaborations Build Pathways to Workforce Opportunity
As local employers struggle with staffing shortages and skill gaps, they are eager to connect with new talent pools, including adult English learners, who now represent 1 in 10 working-age adults in the U.S.
Yet they struggle with where to start in recruiting, onboarding, and training this multilingual talent, especially as efforts are often stymied by English barriers. Employers don’t fully understand how language proficiency intersects with job-readiness and internal mobility pathways. And they aren’t sure how to connect multilingual workers with high-impact English instruction.
There’s good news: Employers don’t have to do this work alone. EnGen convened a cross-sector panel of experts—including the Colorado Office of New Americans, Dallas College, and Upwardly Global—in dialogue around what it takes to build integrated, at-scale approaches to connecting adult English learners with career pathways to high-demand skills, credentials, and employment. The conversation took place at the 2024 National Immigrant Inclusion Conference (NIIC) and engaged an audience of 70 leaders in breakout sessions where they applied insights to their own communities. Here’s what they had to share.
There’s a role for everyone.
Equipping adult English learners with real-world language skills is just the first step in powering their potential. We must also build a workforce ecosystem that also champions their recruitment, retention, career and economic mobility. Panelists agreed that there is a role for all of us in shaping the work ahead.
Community-Based Organizations, including workforce development, faith-based, and immigrant-serving organizations, are uniquely positioned to provide direct support to the newcomer communities that can later become talent pipelines for local employers. The nonprofit Upwardly Global offers a partnership program designed to build frontline organizations’ capacity to effectively support job seekers, particularly internationally trained professionals (ITPs). Panelist Sohail Morrar, Partnership Development Lead with Upwardly Global, described how immigrant-serving organizations can access online learning tools for job seekers, professional development for job coaches, and customized technical assistance.
Community Colleges have potential to provide accessible workforce development opportunities, including industry-recognized credentials, to adult English learners. Yet many systems treat English as a prerequisite to—rather than a core part of—workforce training efforts. Programs like Dallas College’s WorkReadyU are closing the gap with career-aligned English instruction that prepares learners for workforce success. The program is offered at no cost to learners, and includes on-demand access to EnGen, with English instruction reflecting learners’ career focuses in business, criminal justice, education, entrepreneurship, healthcare, and hospitality. In addition to optimizing English instruction, panelist Monica Stansberry, Senior Director of Adult & Youth Learning at Dallas College, advised adult educators to collaborate with community-based organizations and employers to create classroom-to-career pipelines. “Working with employer partners to address skill gaps in language empowers English language learners and cements the employer's commitment to their employees' growth,” she said.
State and Local Governments can convene cross-sector stakeholders in building workforce pathways and solutions that equip adult English learners with job skills, including English skills. In Colorado, the Office of New Americans provided English upskilling licenses at no cost to local employers, community colleges, and workforce organizations. Panelist Anthony Cherwinski, Global Talent Administrator with the Colorado Office of New Americans, encourages state governments to build networks of local employers that are committed to hiring and retaining adult English learners. He recommends doing outreach to local chambers of commerce and employer associations, and building strategies like state compacts for employers to sign. Cherwinski has developed a series of employer-focused resources on recruiting, onboarding, and upskilling that can be replicated in other communities.
EnGen is committed to helping advance a workforce ecosystem that champions opportunity for all U.S. workers, including adult English learners. Learn how our career-aligned English upskilling platform supports employers, adult educators, local government and other workforce partners in workers with high-demand workforce skills, credentials, and workforce opportunities. See EnGen in action.