Transportation is provided, as are other incentives such as professional headshots and participation stipends. They worked to develop a wraparound service model offered through “mini conferences,” where residents can access various education and outreach programs in a single day and location. “Economic mobility is a priority in Chesterfield County as we work to address issues related to workforce development, financial literacy, affordable housing, and education,” said James Worsley, deputy county administrator.īut despite many well-intentioned services offered by the county and its partners, his team recognized an opportunity to enhance how they were promoted and delivered to residents that might not have the time, resources, awareness, or interest needed to take full advantage of the offerings. “If there’s a barrier to entering those jobs because an individual may not have the childcare that they need, we really wanted to understand and figure out what it would take to evaluate the issue and then come up with tangible solutions.”Ĭhesterfield County, just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia, could readily identify a number of supports critical to segments of their population. “When we think about the jobs that require round-the-clock employees, our main industries are health care and government and those are some of our highest paying industries,” said county director of strategic development Jose Landeros. Their efforts have focused on gathering data on the unmet demand for childcare services among the workforce and employers, as well as trying to understand and lessen barriers to expanding the supply of providers. These types of shifts are common in the area, given job opportunities associated with the U.S. While this is not a situation unique to El Paso, county chief aide Lorena Rodriguez noted that beyond a general lack of providers, which is especially challenging for single parent families, there is a particular lack of services available to third or overnight shift workers. On the far west side of Texas along the Mexican border, El Paso County zeroed in on a specific barrier known to impact their workforce: a lack of childcare options for working households and families. The San Juan County team has since been working to inventory the types of government positions available and assess what barriers may be discouraging their native population from seeking such roles. Through conversations with partners at other levels of government in the region, it became apparent that they were also having difficulty in filling roles that would seem to offer ladders to increased income, benefit, and retirement opportunities, among many other things needed to boost upward mobility for the Native American population. Ideally, that would be reflective in government roles in the county as well, and it currently is not,” said Mack McDonald, county administrator. “Our population here is just over 51% Native American. San Juan County, Utah, is a sparsely populated county consisting mostly of breathtaking national park land. Individually and collectively, these local government teams have explored ways to enhance their residents’ financial security, sense of power and autonomy, and sense of belonging to their communities.Īs participants in the cohort, the teams received small grants to advance their work in housing, job opportunities and business development, engaging vulnerable populations, support for working families, and more, made possible by ICMA’s partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.įor PM ’s counties issue, we highlight the three counties participating in the cohort and what they can offer to their peers looking to reimagine processes or approaches to enhance upward mobility of their residents. Throughout this year, 10 communities have come together to create ICMA’s Economic Mobility and Opportunity (EMO) Cohort. Fellowships, Internships & Scholarships.ICMA Coaching Program Advisory Committee.

An Introduction for Local Elected Officials and Community Members.Resources to Help Search for Your Next Executive.

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