Giving Compass' Take:

• Smart Cities Dive talks with Anthony Amato of Workforce Opportunity Services, who explains how workforces can be enhanced and improve on diversity with proper training strategies.

• The main takeaway here is to make sure there is trust in the process: Are we engaging the whole community when it comes to partnerships in workforce development? What role does higher education play?

• Here's one job training program that wants to add diversity to Silicon Valley.

During a recent Smart Cities Week panel on recruiting, training and retaining smart city talent, leaders from both the public and private sector took the stage to highlight the most crucial elements of a successful workforce: trust, equity and collaboration.

Of those leaders was Anthony Amato, Vice President of Business Services at Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS), a nonprofit designed to help underserved communities grow talent and diversify their workforces through organizational partnerships. Amato's work with WOS In The Community helps to give interpersonal skills training — primarily digital literacy — to various community and city residents, pushing the needle forward on bridging educational and opportunity gaps.

"It's not just one thing to say I want to hire people from the local community," says Amato. "It's to bring them into the community and make them part of your company where they're actually adding meaningful value and driving some level of change."

Read the full article about assimilating diverse talent for the workforce by Kristin Musulin at smartcitiesdive.com.