Inside the Black Box - Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago

The organizations in the study all emphasized the importance of collaborating with other workforce
programs to best serve their participants and employers, but these collaborative efforts are not often
formally tracked or monitored.
Community Engagement
The success of workforce programs is largely influenced by the strength of community partnerships.
Community factors often have a significant influence on where the program is located and what services
it provides. Programs not only strive to meet the needs of the individuals within the communities they
serve, but they work with partners and promote economic development for communities. All of the
workforce development organizations in the study emphasized the importance of community engagement
and creating community partnerships. These partnerships included working with community-based
organizations, such as businesses, schools, religious institutions, healthcare providers, financial
institutions, politicians, and media. Organizations sometimes work with business intermediaries, such as
neighborhood business associations, to connect with employers and inform them of their program’s
services and graduates. Most programs emphasized that community partnerships are key to their success.
So partnerships, it’s our key, it’s very instrumental for the comprehensive approach that we have…we
know that we cannot do it all.
When community partners believe in what the program is doing, they are more likely to help highlight the
program within the community and do what they can to help the program succeed. Additionally,
community engagement is often part of the organization’s mission, since they are dedicated to making a
difference in their communities.
Partner with Community Organizations
Workforce organizations partner with other community organizations to serve an array of purposes.
Recruitment of individuals into the programs in this study comes largely from community referrals, which
are aided by the organizations’ long-standing presence in the community. One program administrator
noted that the referrals to their program from community partners have minimized the need for them to do
their own direct outreach efforts to potential participants. Several program administrators noted that wordof-mouth
referrals were most common, as family members and other alumni of the programs are tangible
evidence of the impact a program can have. Another organization in the study only accepts participants
via community referrals from its 100-plus community partners. Like many organizations, they track their
referrals to and from their partners in a database. They can use this data to assess which community
partners send clients to their programs and where they need to do additional outreach. This organization
also provides detailed annual reports on the status of each individual referral to each of their community
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