CAREERS: Harder Announces New Legislation to Scale Up Valley Job Training Programs Across the U.S.
Harder’s bill expands local training programs and builds a national job training strategy based on Valley successes
STOCKTON – Today, during a tour of a local foster care and job training nonprofit, Rep. Josh Harder (CA-09) announced new legislation to scale up local workforce development programs and kickstart a national job training model in the Valley. Harder met with students and staff from Main Street Youth & Family Services, which helps vulnerable youth build skills and get hired at local businesses. Harder’s Better Jobs through Evidence and Innovation Act, introduced with Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-06), would unlock new federal funding to not only expand these programs but also build a national workforce development model around proven local strategies.
“Finding a good-paying job to support a family on has gotten way too hard, but Valley organizations have already proven that evidence-based training can bridge that gap,” said Rep. Harder. “What we need now is for the federal government to supercharge these efforts and make sure that the next generation has the training to develop skills, get hired in high-demand jobs, and achieve lifelong career success. My bill takes what’s working in the Valley and jumpstarts efforts to build a national model around these local workforce successes.”
How the Better Jobs through Evidence and Innovation Act scales up proven local programs:
- New Federal Funding– Three tiers of funding to support the development and expansion of evidence-based employment and training programs that generate demonstrated, long-term economic improvements for jobseekers and employers.
- Cuts Red Tape – Makes it easier for proven workforce programs to scale nationally without navigating the eligibility requirements of more than one hundred local workforce development boards.
- Valley Leadership– Puts funding in the hands of Valley programs that are already leading the way to identify innovative and cutting-edge practices that would ensure 21st-century workers have access to sustainable, high-demand, and high-wage careers.
“At Main Street, young people learn to work by working. They staff our café and kitchen, run our shops, and even help run a worker-owned social enterprise, building the skills and the ownership stake that turn a first job into a lasting career,” said Tony Yadon, Chief Executive Officer, Main Street Youth & Family Services. “The Better Jobs through Evidence and Innovation Act would give organizations building models like ours the federal support to grow what works and test what's promising, helping to move a whole generation toward economic mobility.”
The Better Jobs through Evidence and Innovation Act is endorsed by Main Street Youth & Family Services, America Forward, and over 60 workforce development advocacy organizations from California and across the country.
“America Forward applauds Representatives Josh Harder and Lucy McBath for their leadership of the Better Jobs through Evidence and Innovation Act, which would provide an accessible, efficient pathway for the development and expansion of evidence-based workforce programs across the nation,” said Deborah Smolover, Executive Director of America Forward. “As the pace of change in our labor market accelerates, this legislation ensures that high-impact organizations driving economic mobility, many of which are members of the America Forward Coalition, can nimbly and creatively respond to the needs of workers, communities, and employers.”
“I'm proud to lead the Better Jobs Through Evidence and Innovation Act alongside my colleagues, because there is more than one path to a successful career,” said Rep. McBath. “Consider the single parent looking for a more targeted training program to move into a stable, well-paying job. This legislation will modernize our workforce development pipeline, directing resources where they will have the greatest impact and supporting folks from every background chasing every kind of career.”
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