State of Our Workforce

Hosted by Shift Work Forward

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

About the show

State of Our Workforce is your front-row seat to how Shift Work Forward is redesigning work and expanding opportunity across the country. Each episode explores how leaders and communities are reshaping workforce systems to be more inclusive, responsive, and equitable for everyone. From national policy conversations to on-the-ground innovation, we spotlight the people and ideas transforming how work works. Through conversations with thought leaders and stories with local changemakers, we share bold ideas, real experiences, and practical strategies for building a future where every workers has what they need to thrive, race doesn’t dictate career success, and every job is a good job. This is where workforce transformation comes to life. Nationally Powered. Locally Driven. https://shiftworkforward.org/media-center/state-of-our-workforce-podcast/

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 6, 202635 min

How Do YOU Shift Work Forward? (Part 1 from SHIFT Conference 2026)

What does it mean to shift work forward, and how are leaders making it happen in their communities? At the 2026 SHIFT Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hundreds of leaders from workforce development, business, education, philanthropy, and more came together to explore how we can redesign work, expand opportunity, and create a more equitable future. In this special two-part series, we’re bringing you conversations recorded live at the conference, featuring attendees sharing the ideas, partnerships, and strategies they’re advancing in their communities. From improving job quality to creating more equitable career pathways, these conversations offer a glimpse into the many ways leaders are working to transform the future of work. Tune in for part one, get inspired by the work happening across the country, and consider: How will YOU shift work forward in your own community? Thank you to our guests from day 1 at SHIFT Conference: · Eric Frederick – Sandia Photography · Dee Manyama – Prosper · Kevin Iraheta Sousa – Autodesk Foundation · Emilija Postolovska & Tyrone Dixon – CenterstateCEO · Teresa Quintana – Native Workforce Partners

October 21, 202632 min

Unpacked: Rethinking Workforce Contracting for Better Results

What could workforce systems accomplish if contracts were designed around the results they aim to achieve, rather than simply the activities they fund? And how can workforce leaders make sure those results translate into better opportunities and outcomes for job seekers? In the latest episode of State of Our Workforce: Unpacked, Henry Danner is joined by Kier Scott, Policy and Performance Manager at Aspyr, Shift Work Forward’s Network Partner in Columbus, Ohio, to explore the possibilities of results-driven contracting. Together, they’ll take a closer look at how workforce systems can define meaningful outcomes, use data to understand performance, identify what’s working and where adjustments may be needed, and create incentives that encourage high-quality results. What can workforce leaders learn from experimenting with new approaches to contracting, performance, and accountability?

September 16, 202619 min

Unpacked: Creating Opportunity for Everyone in Raleigh-Durham

Workforce systems are complex. Education, employers, nonprofits, funders, and public institutions all play a role. Too often, those pieces operate separately. Creating better pathways to economic mobility requires bringing people and systems together around shared challenges and solutions. In this episode, we’re getting to know one of Shift Work Forward’s newest Network Partners: the Future of Work Action Lab at United Way of the Greater Triangle in North Carolina. Henry Danner sits down with Will Dorsey Eden, director of Future at Work, to learn more about the Action Lab’s work across the Research Triangle and what brought the organization to the Shift Work Forward Network. We'll learn how the Action Lab is bringing employers, educators, funders and public partners together around shared workforce challenges, from better understanding employer needs to coordinating investments and creating stronger pathways from high school to quality jobs. He also discusses what the Action Lab hopes to learn from and contribute to the Shift Work Forward Network as a new Network Partner, particularly around closing the gap between research and implementation, and looks ahead to a more connected region where workforce systems help produce measurable gains in economic mobility.

August 27, 202621 min

Unpacked: Building a Stronger Future for Birmingham

What does it take to build a local economy where workers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and communities can all thrive? In this episode of State of Our Workforce: Unpacked, Henry Danner sits down with Dee Manyama, Initiatives Director at Prosper in Birmingham, Alabama, one of Shift Work Forward’s newest Network Partners. Dee shares how Prosper is working to build a more thriving and inclusive local economy, why small businesses and entrepreneurs are central to that work, and what the organization hopes to accomplish in the years ahead. They also talk about what brought Prosper into the Shift Work Forward network and how collaboration across communities can help turn local ideas into lasting systems change.

August 3, 20261 hr 3 min

Inside the Shifting the Childcare Industry Initiative (Part 2)

Creating a stronger childcare system doesn't happen through one program or one organization. It requires communities willing to work together, test new approaches, and learn from one another. In this second special episode recorded during Shift Work Forward's June 2026 Childcare Cross-Site Meeting in Chicago, three additional community leaders discuss how they're advancing systems-level strategies to improve job quality in early childhood education as part of the Shifting the Childcare Industry initiative. From launching new partnerships to building on existing successes, this conversation explores what it takes to create lasting change for childcare educators, providers, and families. Guests include Kate Bennett of United Way of Central Iowa, Karen Yarbrough of the University of Illinois Chicago's Collaborative for Young Children and Families, and Marlo Nash of the Maryland Philanthropy Network. --- Got a question? Send it our way for an upcoming listener mailbag episode using this link or on the State of Our Workforce webpage.

July 15, 202642 min

Inside the Shifting the Childcare Industry Initiative (Part 1)

When people talk about fixing childcare, the conversation often centers on affordability for families or access to available seats. Those challenges are real, but they only tell part of the story. Behind every childcare classroom are educators whose working conditions shape not only their own futures, but the quality and stability of care that families depend on. In this first of two special episodes recorded during Shift Work Forward's June 2026 Childcare Cross-Site Meeting in Chicago, leaders from three communities participating in our Shifting the Childcare Industry initiative share how they're working to improve job quality in the childcare sector. You'll hear how they're strengthening partnerships, engaging employers and providers, and building momentum for systems-level change that benefits educators, businesses, families, and children alike. Guests include Thomas Williams Jr. of Thrive by 5 Louisville, Bonny Yeager of Partner4Work in Pittsburgh, and Maria Spencer of the Early Childhood Resource Center in Akron, Ohio. --- Got a question? Send it our way for an upcoming listener mailbag episode using this link or on the State of Our Workforce webpage.

June 24, 202626 min

Unpacked: Rethinking Childcare Through the People Who Know It Best

Childcare is essential infrastructure for workers, families, and local economies. Too often, people who make it possible are left out of the conversations shaping the future of the industry. In this episode we’re joined by Linda Dworak, Executive Director of the Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative, to explore why Baltimore became fertile ground for centering workers to shape solutions to some of the industry's most pressing challenges. Linda will discuss how the project elevated worker voice and shares lessons from the effort, including policy challenges that surfaced and the strategies being used to sustain momentum for long-term systems change. This conversation offers a closer look at what becomes possible when workers are treated not just as participants in workforce systems, but as partners in redesigning them. Read "Breaking the Triple Bind:" https://shiftworkforward.org/breaking-the-triple-bind/

May 25, 20261 hr 3 min

Building an Economy Where Workers Thrive

Too often, workforce conversations focus on skills, training, and hiring. But workers need more than a job to succeed. For many workers, the biggest barriers to career success happen outside the workplace. Childcare, housing costs, transportation, access to healthcare. These challenges shape whether people can get a job, keep a job or move forward in their careers. In this episode, we’re joined by Daniel Enemark, Vice President and Chief Economist at the Policy and Innovation Center to discuss the real conditions shaping whether workers can thrive. Daniel will share how his team is approaching these issues in San Diego and the successes and challenges they’ve faced. The conversation will also look at what it takes to build workforce systems that truly support workers. We’ll discuss the role employers can play, why cross-sector partnerships matter, and what happens when communities start designing solutions around the realities workers face every day. Policy & Innovation Center

April 14, 202621 min

Unpacked: Empowering Bay Area Workers

The Bay Area’s workforce faces both historic inequities and new challenges—from climate risks to rising job precarity. How can philanthropy move beyond distant grantmaking to actually empower workers and build lasting power in local communities? In this episode, we sit down with Rob Hope, Director at ReWork the Bay, and Brianna Rogers, Initiative Officer at ReWork, to explore how proximate grantmaking is transforming workforce development in the Bay Area. Together, we unpack how this approach brings funding and decision-making closer to the communities it serves, empowering workers to become advocates for job quality and workplace equity. Tune in to hear how ReWork the Bay is building worker power, advancing equitable solutions, and redefining what it means to invest in local communities.

April 1, 202654 min

How Do We Shift Work Forward?

2026 is shaping up to be a defining year for the field of workforce development. We’re launching new programs. We have the SHIFT Conference coming up in Albuquerque this September. And across the country, conversations about job quality, worker voice, and racial equity are accelerating. In this special episode of State of Our Workforce, we’re joined by Amanda Cage for a candid conversation about this pivotal moment, and what it requires of all of us. Amanda will discuss the organization’s evolution form a collaborative philanthropic fund into a national catalyst reshaping workforce systems so workers, employers, and communities can thrive together. In this episode, Amanda reflects on that evolution and shares why this moment calls for something bigger. Whether you’re an employer, funder, policymaker, workforce leader, or longtime partner, this episode asks a timely question: How do we shift work forward — together? Listen now and join us in shaping what comes next. Learn more about Shift Work Forward: https://shiftworkforward.org/