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WorkforceConnect

What we do

We connect people to the pathway, and the pathway to the people who run it.

WorkforceConnect is a connector, a convener and a funder. Our work falls into five functions. Where a program’s current status has not been verified, we say so instead of implying it is running.

The five functions

Explore · Prepare · Connect · Fund · Convene

Each function answers a different barrier. Together they describe the whole of the nonprofit's work as an organization — they are our capabilities, not a claim that every named program below is currently running. Program status is stated on each card.

Explore

See what is possible

Exposure and awareness. People choose careers they can picture themselves in, so we start by making real careers visible — the trades, technology, manufacturing and the paths into them.

A student trying a heavy-equipment operating simulator during a career exploration event
  • Status under review

    Career exploration and trade awareness

    Information and exposure to skilled-trade, technology and manufacturing careers — what the work is, what it pays into, and what training it takes.

    We are confirming this program’s current status before presenting it as active.

  • Status under review

    Work-based career fairs and industry events

    Events that put students and job seekers in the same room as the people who do the work and the programs that train them.

    We are confirming this program’s current status before presenting it as active.

Prepare

Get ready for the step

Readiness support. Practising an interview, understanding what an employer expects, knowing how to present yourself — small preparations that decide who gets through the door.

A student in a hard hat using a cordless drill on a metal stud frame
  • Status under review

    Mock interviews and readiness practice

    Practice interviews and readiness coaching so a first real interview is not a first interview.

    We are confirming this program’s current status before presenting it as active.

Connect

Find the right door

Pathway navigation. We connect people to apprenticeships, training providers and education partners who run the programs — and we say plainly who operates what.

An apprenticeship instructor guiding students through a hands-on carpentry task
  • Status under review

    Apprenticeship and training pathway navigation

    Help understanding which apprenticeships and training programs exist in the region, what they require, and how to apply — delivered in partnership with the organizations that run them.

    Delivered in partnership with regional training and apprenticeship organizations

    We are confirming this program’s current status before presenting it as active.

Fund

Remove the cost barrier

Financial access. Scholarships and direct support for the costs — fees, tools, materials — that quietly end careers before they begin.

A large group of students gathered together at the close of a career exploration day
  • Current / continuing

    Cassandra Walker-Nolin Scholarship

    A continuing scholarship fund supporting people pursuing construction and skilled-trade careers in the San Diego region. Applications open January 2027; recipients were recognized in the 2023 cycle.

    Scholarship details

Convene

Build the table

Field building. Bringing education, industry, community organizations and philanthropy into the same room so the region's pathways actually connect to each other.

Education, industry and community partners gathered at the WorkforceConnect annual partnership event
  • Status under review

    Regional convenings and partner collaboration

    Bringing education, industry, community and philanthropic partners together to align the region's career pathways.

    We are confirming this program’s current status before presenting it as active.

Focus areas

Where our work has concentrated

Construction and skilled trades, technology and manufacturing are areas where our work has concentrated — they are focus areas, not the boundary of the mission. Access to opportunity is the mission; these are places we have been able to open doors.

  • Construction and skilled trades

    The area with the deepest history of WorkforceConnect activity — craft careers, apprenticeship routes and the trade information people cannot easily find elsewhere.

  • Technology

    Career awareness and pathway connections in technology, including work with regional employers and education partners.

  • Manufacturing

    Advanced and traditional manufacturing pathways, where regional demand and accessible entry points meet.

How we describe our role

What we do — and what we don't claim

We do

  • Make real careers visible to students and job seekers
  • Connect people to apprenticeships, training and education partners
  • Fund scholarships and remove direct cost barriers
  • Convene education, industry, community and philanthropic partners

We don’t claim

  • To deliver training our partners operate
  • To place candidates or act as a staffing or recruiting service
  • To operate a job marketplace — employer-created opportunities live with CareerReadyConnect
  • Outcomes we cannot verify
See our partnersSupport this work