Advancing Equity & Opportunity in Action
Our 45 Local Workforce Development Boards are actively dismantling barriers and building inclusive, high-road career pathways. Explore how we are driving equitable economic mobility across California.
Fresno Regional's Women's Equity Study
To understand why women make up only 4% of the construction workforce, the Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board commissioned a deep-dive study interviewing 101 women. They identified massive structural barriers—and immediately took action to dismantle them.
Turning Data Into Equity:
- Barrier: Unpaid Training. 70% of women cited the inability to forgo a paycheck during 9-to-5 training as their primary obstacle.
- Solution: Paid Cohorts. FRWDB secured state grants to reserve $3.3 million specifically to compensate women for their training hours.
- Solution: Wrap-Around Support. They launched the "ValleyBuild NOW" all-female cohort, utilizing ERiCA grants to provide crucial childcare stipends and transportation support.
More Local Board Initiatives
Bridging the Digital Divide
Recognizing that digital access is a foundational workforce requirement, the City of Long Beach and the Pacific Gateway Workforce Innovation Network launched a massive Digital Inclusion Initiative. They are actively expanding free public Wi-Fi, providing computing devices to low-income residents, and offering multilingual digital literacy training to ensure everyone can access the modern job market.
Explore the Initiative
Expanding Underserved Business Engagement
To ensure economic recovery reaches all corners of the community, Stanislaus County Workforce Development intentionally scaled its underserved business contracts from one to four. They expanded outreach deep into rural zip codes and broadened their definition of "underserved" to actively identify, fund, and support women-owned small businesses.
Visit Local Board