State of Our Workforce

Hosted by Shift Work Forward

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Aug 2026

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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/

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60 recent

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/

March 23, 202652 min

BONUS! The Story Behind the Stories feat. Michelle Wilson and Henry Danner

In this special bonus episode, State of Our Workforce producer Josh Enoch sits down with Michelle Wilson and Henry Danner, hosts of State of Our Workforce and Unpacked, to look back at a year of powerful conversations. Together, they revisit standout moments, unpack recurring themes, and explore what those stories reveal about the state of workforce equity. The conversation also digs into why storytelling is more than a communications tool—it’s a strategy for advancing racial equity, challenging entrenched narratives, and reshaping systems so workers, employers, and communities can thrive together. As we look ahead to the year to come, the group reflects on the questions we need to keep asking, the voices we need to keep centering, and what it will take to build a future where every job is a good job.

March 11, 202626 min

Episode 46.5 - Unpacked: Middle-Wage Jobs and New York City's Affordability Agenda feat. Judith Smith, Lauren Melodia, and Audrey Jenkins

New York City’s affordability crisis is reshaping the conversation about work, wages, and economic mobility. But what would it take to ensure more New Yorkers can access jobs that truly sustain a family — and build a future? In this episode, we’re joined by Judith Smith, Director of the NYC Workforce Funders Collaborative; Lauren Melodia, Director of Economic and Fiscal Policies at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School; and Audrey Jenkins, Research Associate at the Center for New York City Affairs. Together, they help us unpack how middle-wage jobs fit into NYC’s broader affordability agenda and what it will take to connect more workers to them.

December 22, 202559 min

Episode 46: Finding Joy, Peace, and the Expert Within feat. Peter Godard and Mona Khan

As another year of rapid change and workplace demands comes to a close, we’re taking a different kind of pause. In this episode, guests Peter Godard and Mona Khan of the Social Identity Coaching Lab invite us into a grounded, reflective conversation about what it means to cultivate joy, peace, and presence at work — not as a luxury, but as a necessary condition for people to thrive. We explore why attending to workplace culture is a catalyst for meaningful change, how to release old patterns to make room for the new, and what it looks like to trust the expert within ourselves. This is an episode designed to meet anyone who works where they are. Not with another to-do list, but with space. With breath. With the reminder that sustaining systems change and advancing equity requires tending to our own humanity. Settle in. Take a moment. This is your pause. Liberation Toolkit: https://www.socidlab.com/liberation-toolkit