Category: News

The City of Birmingham, in partnership with the Community Funding Accelerator (CFA), convened 30 employer and community partners in K-12 education, community college, workforce training, transportation, entrepreneurship, and childcare to confirm and release their Workforce Strategy.

The strategy outlines how $20.2 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant will be used to advance the Reinvest Birmingham workforce revitalization initiative. With this funding, the City of Birmingham aims to engage 5,000 residents in North Birmingham, Northside, Pratt, and Smithfield in information sessions and career and job fairs with a goal of enrolling over 3,000 residents into Career Pathway Training.

Read more from Birmingham Times.

Read more from Times News.

Jacksonville’s Kids Hope Alliance and the Community Funding Accelerator are working to secure $18 million in federal, state and private funds for a workforce development project, the city announced in a Sept. 30 release. 

According to the release, the partnership seeks to expand employment and job training opportunities in Jacksonville. 

KHA estimates that Jacksonville lags peer cities by about $32 million in spending on career and college preparation compared to peer cities. Jacksonville annually spends around $18 million, while peer cities spend closer to $50 million.

Read the full article from the Jacksonville Daily Record.

NEW ORLEANS (press release) — The Community Funding Accelerator (CFA) and Future Use of Energy in Louisiana (FUEL) have kicked off a new partnership to strengthen workforce readiness and expand opportunities for K-12 students to explore careers in the energy industry.

Read the full article in Biz New Orleans.

For far too long, communities like Birmingham, Alabama have been victim to widespread disinvestment. Mara Eala of Community Funding Accelerator and Sarah McMillan of the City of Birmingham believe the only way to fight back is to actively and relentlessly reinvest in community residents of all ages. In particular, focusing economic development on the workforce readiness of current middle and high school students is an essential step towards sustainable, equitable, long-term growth. 

As one of six winners nationwide for the U.S. Department of Commerce Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program, Birmingham will do just that. Read the full op-ed here.

CFA’s Amy Zhou was recently interviewed along with the Applied Research Institute’s Bioworks Executive Vice President Andrew Kossack and U.S. Sen. Todd Young about Heartland Bioworks’ Tech Hubs win.

“There’s a workforce shortage and at least 2,200 bio manufacturing workers per year in Indiana, and this funding will help young people enter these careers and fill that gap,” said Zhou for the Indianapolis TV story.

Watch the interview here. 

CFA authored a blog post featured on the National League of Cities Citiesspeak blog. The post explores the challenges communities face accessing competitive federal funding and the new model of support CFA provides to help communities across the U.S. win federal dollars and scale innovative education and workforce solutions. Read the full article here.

CFA was featured in a Philanthropy Daily op-ed, spotlighting its support model. The piece delves into the hurdles communities encounter in securing competitive federal grants and highlights the ways CFA provides comprehensive support—from demystifying the application process to guiding coalitions to turn their winning, innovative ideas into action.

Read the op-ed here.

CFA was recently featured in an article from Real Clear Education focused on the critical role K-12 plays in developing the workforce of the future, introducing students to career opportunities in cutting-edge technologies and ensuring the U.S. maintains its global competitiveness for future generations.  Read the full article here.  

CFA was featured in a recent Government Technology article for its role in helping communities win competitive federal grants. Read the full article here.