March 9, 2022
This year, the Governor proposed over $250 million in funding for workforce development specifically intended to benefit immigrant communities. These investments include job training, support services, “earn and learn” opportunities, and more—promising, welcome, and necessary funding for our communities to gain better jobs in the workforce.
But what does our current public workforce development system look like, especially for undocumented immigrant workers? Our latest research on workforce development, building off of our prior work, investigates how work authorization requirements may create unnecessary barriers for California’s undocumented immigrant workforce when attempting to access public workforce services and resources.
This report is the first-ever empirical analysis of the discrepancies in local workforce boards’ policies and practices related to immigrant access to workforce development services.
It offers new insights through original survey data collected from California’s 45 local workforce development boards, COVID-19 and industry data on immigrant workers, and strategic recommendations that the California Workforce Development Board can implement to better support undocumented immigrant workers and remove exclusionary, and unneccesary, restrictions.
Read our report, “Can You Verify? Addressing Work Authorization Restrictions As Obstacles to Workforce Development Equity for Immigrant Workers,” share the tweets below, and join us in our efforts to ensure that our public workforce development system is inclusive and equitable for all Californians. When immigrants thrive, so does the rest of California.
Quick Links:Stakeholder StoriesPull-Out Quotes + Key Statistics Workforce Report Rollout Plan 2022
Sample TweetsNEW BRIEF: “CAN YOU VERIFY? Addressing Work Authorization Restrictions As Obstacles to Workforce Development Equity for Immigrant Workers”- first of its kind research by @CALimmigrant on one of the biggest barriers to good jobs facing undocumented immigrant workers. http://cipc.me/workforcedev
Gov @GavinNewsom budget proposal of $250M in workforce development funding to support immigrant communities is significant and necessary. However, work is needed to address structural barriers to access for California’s immigrant workforce. Check out our latest brief: http://cipc.me/workforcedev
In Solidarity,
Edgar Ortiz
California Immigrant Policy Center