Dallas Mayor Eric L. Johnson and Workforce Czar Lynn McBee, updated business and community leaders on the progress of Workforce Dallas, an initiative that helps working-age adults connect with jobs and upskilling opportunities that will lift them, their families and their communities.
Workforce Dallas was launched a year ago as the result of recommendations made in a landmark report commissioned by Mayor Johnson and produced by Cicero Group, released in November 2021.
In the last 10 months, Workforce Dallas has utilized private donations to fund work to develop best practices for job matching, implement navigator support, remove obstacles to upskilling, and identify key partners and collaborators. In its inaugural year, Workforce Dallas conducted hiring events with more than 700 participants, held over 200 meetings with stakeholders and partners, and advocated alongside nonprofit partners to ensure the needs of underserved communities were being addressed.
“Workforce development remains one of my top priorities,” Mayor Johnson said. “Our city’s collaborative focus on upskilling has already yielded impressive results, but our work is not done. Renewing our commitment to this endeavor will unlock more opportunities for Dallas residents to improve their quality of life and for our city to attract and grow businesses, sustain our remarkable economic growth, and win the future.”
Mayor Johnson announced on Thursday that he will allocate $275,000 of his discretionary American Rescue Plan Act funds to support four full time workforce navigators for one year. “Workforce navigators are critical to the success of Workforce Dallas,” he said. “New navigator positions will help increase job and upskilling placements exponentially.”
Workforce Dallas staff has been able to synthesize information gathered through community outreach to create a database with more than 300 job and upskilling opportunities, while interviewing and onboarding more than 500 job candidates into its system.
“We’ve gained a deep knowledge of this work that only comes from talking to people, hearing their stories and at times helping people one at a time,” said Lynn McBee. “Our goal over the coming year is to build this out on a greater scale, to move from helping hundreds of workers to helping thousands. I’m confident that with the backing of Mayor Johnson, our city and the many corporate, nonprofit and educational partners in our corner we will accomplish this goal.”
The ultimate goal of Workforce Dallas is to help collaborators across the city place workers in higher paying jobs, create more opportunities for upskilling, and provide vital support for workers needing guidance and assistance as they work to increase their earning potential.
