Giving Compass' Take:

•  Capitol One is working on improving racial equity within the workforce by responding to systemic barriers in workforce development and training programs. 

• How can individual donors also invest in racial equity within job training?

• Learn about racial equity in philanthropy.

Roughly one in five U.S. workers are collecting unemployment benefits, and as coronavirus case numbers surge across the country, job prospects seem slim for many. Even before the pandemic, nearly 28 million Americans were unemployed or underemployed due to a lack of relevant job training, a lack of education, or simply a lack of access to pipelines for better paying and more stable positions.

Would-be workers aren’t the only ones who lose out when talent is left on the table. Entire communities are affected when residents struggle to find gainful employment, and businesses face unavoidable long-term risk if workers are not equipped with the right skills to fill vacant positions once employment levels return to normal.

Investment in job training within historically underserved communities is a key lever companies can use to bolster their own pipelines while bettering the communities they serve. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt the U.S. workforce and renewed conversations around racial equity highlight the disparities within it, business now has an even greater opportunity to rethink how it perceives — and invests in — future talent, Aleta Stampley, director of community impact and investing for Capital One, told TriplePundit.

Stampley and her team at Capital One support job training in underserved communities across the U.S. with $50 million in annual funding across over 200 community-based organizations, including those that support workforce development. In June, the company pledged an additional $10 million to organizations advancing social justice in Black communities and established a dollar-for-dollar gift-matching program for employees looking to support the cause. Given what we know about racial equity in the workforce, particularly in the midst of severe economic disruptions, the company’s focus on diversity, inclusion and belonging efforts with workforce partners is needed now more than ever.

Read the full article about job training by  Mary Mazzoni at TriplePundit.