The Power of Collaboration: Creating ‘Good Jobs’ to Drive Community Change
Across the country, conversations about workforce development are shifting. No longer is it enough to count job placements or track short-term metrics.
If you’re an employer, a workforce board leader, or a policymaker, this conversation touches you. Because at Midwest Urban Strategies, we believe job quality isn’t just a workforce goal, it’s a community imperative. And we know it takes all of us, working together, to get it right. Are employers creating the kinds of jobs that people can build a life on? How would they know if they are?
For employers, creating good jobs requires more than wages and benefits, it also requires a commitment to dignity, fairness, and opportunity. It means building roles where people feel seen, supported, and valued. It means investing in career pathways that allow individuals to grow, support their families, and contribute meaningfully to their communities. And it means shaping workplaces where wellness and belonging are woven into the culture, not added on as an afterthought.
Forward-thinking employers are rising to the challenge, reimagining how they hire, train, and promote. Many are moving from degree requirements to skills-based hiring, from static job structures to growth-focused career paths, and transactional practices to people-centered strategies. They’re not just filling vacancies; they’re rethinking who gets hired and how people can grow once they’re on board. Some are looking inward and asking: What could we unlock if we built real pathways for mentorship, upward mobility, and leadership development?
At the same time, they’re looking outward for skilled workers but don’t always know how to connect with workforce boards or tap into the WIOA pipeline of newly trained talent. Structural change takes more than programs, it takes partnership, coordination, and commitment across every level of the system.
MUS’ work contributes to making workforce development more accessible for employers, meeting them where they are, helping them engage with greater clarity, and lifting up stories that show policymakers what this work looks like on the ground. These efforts aren’t about politics, they’re about people. And they’re about aligning policy, systems, and relationships to open the doors to quality jobs for everyone.
Creating quality jobs is rooted in the wellbeing of individuals, families, businesses, and neighborhoods. That’s why MUS supports our members in organizing a unified voice, demystifying public systems like WIOA, and building sector partnerships that connect training providers, intermediaries, and community organizations. But let’s be real, policy doesn’t always reflect what’s actually happening on the ground or what our communities need most. That’s why workforce boards must lead the way, co-designing solutions with employers and putting community voice at the center.
Are workforce boards considering how they can help employers engage more deeply in their communities, not just as job creators but as partners in long-term economic and social growth? Are they building the kind of relationships that make it easier for employers to show up, stay involved, and commit to job quality for the long haul? These are the questions we must continue asking and answering together. And it’s why the MUS network continues to advocate so that federal and state decision-makers truly understand how workforce development systems function and who they’re meant to serve.
When employers are able to collaborate with workforce development boards, they don’t have to guess how to engage with the public workforce system, they have a guide to navigate public resources and build more intentional hiring and training strategies. These partnerships don’t just fill jobs, they foster long-term community investment, trust, and shared accountability for creating good jobs where they’re needed most.
As we continue building this ecosystem together, MUS remains committed to helping our partners turn intention into action. Through sector partnerships, registered apprenticeships, and strategic convenings, we support employers in implementing job quality strategies that are both grounded and transformative. It’s not about solving every workforce challenge overnight, it’s about aligning values with action, one collaborative step at a time.
This month’s newsletter shines a light on the power of employer engagement and job quality to drive real change. We hope the stories inside offer inspiration and a call to action. Whether you’re a business leader, policymaker, community advocate, or workforce professional, your role in building good jobs matters. And you are not in it alone.
Together, we stand at a unique crossroads, one where we can either keep operating in disconnected systems that leave both employers and workers navigating confusion and missed opportunities or choose to build something better, together. By leaning into the power of collaboration, we can shape an economy where good jobs are not the exception, but the expectation.
