Growing Fairly

Few issues are as important to the success of cities as equitable growth. Even in a city such as San Diego, fortunate to have a strong economy and a national model for workforce development, upward mobility remains elusive for many. Growing Fairly presents a uniquely valuable set of principles that can help cities make progress toward a brighter future for all residents, leaving no one behind.

Growing Fairly presents an actionable framework for reimagining regional skills-based workforce systems through cross-sector collaboration. A must-read for all education and workforce stakeholders.

In today's labor market, we paradoxically have millions of people searching for their next paycheck and millions more job postings. In Growing Fairly, Goldsmith and Markin Coleman distill the nation's leading workforce development prototypes and pilots and how to expand proven approaches. Communities need to convene partners--public and private, for profit and nonprofit--to design skills-focused solutions. Together, we can do this. It's time. Past time.

Stephen Goldsmith and Kate Markin Coleman not only establish the indisputable case that diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential elements of a stable and robust economy, they also have designed a model for effective collaboration among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Their clear-eyed, rational approach is rooted in years of practical experience, authoritative research, and a profound respect for the dignity of work.

This volume is a compendium of best practices and programs addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in cities across the US. It offers a practical, useful survey of programs that successfully address the ways future economic and social growth can benefit all, not just some, people. The authors of this book offer far more than a laundry list of successful programs: they place each program into its geographic context and examine the critical linkages crucial to their success. These contextualized case studies are particularly valuable because "one size" definitely does not fit all in building equity in workforce development. The authors describe complex challenges in spare, lucid prose and skillfully present the programs under study as relevant illustrations of the governing principle of growing fairly. The authors also identify widespread problems and challenges, such as fragmented and duplicative delivery systems, and offer examples of how they were overcome. This text is a great starting point for any community or general reader with an interest in equitable workforce development. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; practitioners; general readers.