What's Happening?
Education Design Lab, supported by Walmart, has announced the selection of 10 organizations to receive funding through the Advancing Workforce Mobility initiative. This initiative aims to improve credential transparency and skills validation, helping
working adults navigate the fragmented learn-and-work ecosystem. The selected organizations include nonprofits and governmental bodies focused on making workers' skills and credentials more visible, trusted, and transferable. The initiative addresses the challenges faced by over 70 million U.S. adults who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs), aiming to improve how skills are recognized and used across systems. Each grantee will receive funding ranging from $250,000 to $600,000 and will participate in an 18-month cohort experience.
Why It's Important?
The initiative is crucial for enhancing economic mobility and closing opportunity gaps for STARs, who often face barriers in hiring and advancement due to the lack of visible and verifiable skills. By supporting scalable solutions that improve credential transparency, the initiative helps bridge the gap between skills and career opportunities. This effort is significant for U.S. industries and workforce systems, as it promotes a more inclusive and skills-based approach to employment. The initiative also fosters collaboration among diverse organizations, contributing to a broader ecosystem where skills and credentials are more easily compared and applied.
What's Next?
Over the next 18 months, the grantees will design, test, and scale solutions that make skills visible, build employer trust in non-degree credentials, and connect credential data across systems using open standards. The projects will generate shared learning about effective practices, contributing to a more transparent skills ecosystem. The initiative aims to test whether common infrastructure can work across different contexts, providing models and evidence for the field to build on.
