The Need

The rapidly changing complexion of the American workforce has impacted low-income communities significantly. A 2019 report from McKinsey & Co showed that African Americans were overwhelmingly, disproportionately represented among jobs that were most likely to be displaced. COVID-19’s impact on the workforce, particularly in industries and jobs that overlap with the McKinsey report, expedited that disruption. The workforce ecosystem is underprepared to address this immediate need. Today, low wage workers are finding themselves employed in jobs that remain vulnerable to displacement but are disconnected from resources that support upskilling or reskilling into more resilient jobs.  The National Urban League’s Response The National Urban League (NUL) and its affiliates are crucial partners to connecting under and unemployed job seekers and employers seeking them. 

Our Approach

Each program has one or multiple Career Counselors whose focus is to assess and counsel job seekers on an appropriate career pathway, facilitate job readiness support service delivery (tool development, career readiness class, financial literacy, etc.), and introduce them to available training opportunities. Once a job seeker is prepared and ready to find employment, the Job/Business Developer engages potential employers through individual relationship or job fairs to connect job seekers to open job vacancies.
 

Key components to our success lay in:

1) Trusting relationships between Urban League Affiliates and job seekers

2) Established relationships between Urban League Affiliates and local market employers

3) Training partnerships or in-house trainings tied to local market demands