developing clarity, connections, and resources to support hawaiʻi’s workforce

HWFC Solutions Framework

The HWFC Solutions Framework guides what we do, and at its core is the elevation of worker voice. By bringing worker voices to partnerships & workforce program development, building data insights and capacity, and through evidence-based policy recommendations, we strive to create equitable access to high quality jobs in Hawaiʻi.

Funding Innovative Workforce Solutions

We fund projects that impact one or more of the following areas:

  • Strengthen Pathways:  Ensuring an abundance of opportunity, empowering learners to acquire the credentials or skills necessary for the 'good job' of their choosing, supported by robust guidance and clear visibility throughout their journey. Our commitment lies in making these pathways accessible and meaningful, thereby encouraging individuals to envision and build their careers within Hawaiʻi

  • Strengthen Communities: Ensuring equity in access to the “good job” of one’s choosing. This commitment transcends geographic and demographic barriers, focusing on removing disparities that may arise due to one's geographic location or racial/ethnic background so that individuals can remain and thrive in their localities and positively impact their communities.

  • Strengthen Systems: Amplifying our aligned impact by supporting public systems to adopt and scale the innovative practices we fund and incubate. By sharing research and best practices with state and local government agencies, we see proven strategies adopted by public systems.

Community Engagement to elevate worker voices

Listening to and learning from Hawaiʻi’s workers, employers, agencies, and organizations is key to developing a skilled workforce that will make Hawaiʻi thrive. Elevating worker voices - their wants, needs, and challenges - is key to understanding how to best serve Hawaiʻi’s workforce which in turn serves us all.

HWFC convenes stakeholders to not only cultivate understanding, but develop and implement solutions. We believe that collaboration and coordinated action is critical to creating equitable access to educational opportunities, training, and career on-ramps to good jobs for all Hawaiʻi residents. 

Inspired by Job Quality Frameworks developed by the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, and the Aspen Institute, we are currently hosting convenings to learn what a “good job” means in Hawaiʻi. Read our “A Good Job in Hawaiʻi” Framework that summarizes the learnings of this work.

Data Sense-Making & Capacity Building

A coordinated, strategic approach to data collection, sharing, and analysis is a powerful tool in identifying challenges and opportunities, storytelling, making sound decisions, and measuring outcomes. 

By better using existing publicly-available data, we are able to better understand the challenges faced by Hawaiʻi workers and learners, while also illustrating the value of developing additional datasets through cross-agency sharing.

In particular, we focus on building capacity across the workforce ecosystem to collect, analyze, and interpret data. By identifying equity gaps, informing the design of support services, measuring the success of initiatives, and driving continuous improvement, we aim to empower stakeholders—nonprofits, government agencies, education providers, and employers—to make data-driven decisions that advance workforce resilience and equity.

Our latest workforce recommendation report, “From Crisis to Opportunity: Building Hawaiʻi's Workforce Resilience”, highlights critical insights and calls to action to ensure a more equitable and resilient future for Hawaiʻi's workers and learners.