In the States.

National Skills Coalition, under the leadership of its Regional Field Directors, works with allies in the states to build multi-stakeholder alliances that can mobilize statewide support for skills agendas, and advance specific policy reforms with state governments and legislatures.

This section features the work of some of those state coalitions and campaigns. It also provides background on model state policies developed or replicated by these state advocates.

Here are just a few examples of some of the great work that is going on around the country to advance skills agendas.

Rhode Island Workforce Alliance and Lifespan Health System, with support from National Skills Coalition and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, organized a meeting of New England employers with Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier, from the Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education  to discuss region's business need for Adult Basic Education reforms under the Workforce Investment Act.

Skills2Compete-Michigan Campaign was launched in coordination with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's celebration of the 100,000th worker trained under the "No Worker Left Behind" program. This Michigan model will be featured in forthcoming Capitol Hill briefing and a national report co-authored by National Skills Coalition.

California EDGE Campaign leaders co-authored a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle calling for protections of the state's career and technical education programs. The op-ed cites findings of California's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs report released by EDGE, National Skills Coalition, and other state leaders as part of California Skills2Compete campaign.