SkillUp Coalition 2023 Impact Report

A Letter to Our SkillUp Community

We’ll be honest—we’ve always found opening messages in annual reports a tad self-congratulatory. That said, as SkillUp crosses the three-year threshold of its journey, we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished since our founding in July 2020:

• Nearly 1.6M users on our platform (including 654,722 in the past year)

• Over 52,000 workers connected to a training program (including 32,322 in the past year)

• An estimated 15,000 jobs secured for SkillUp users (including an estimated 9,281 in the past year)

2025.

We’ve built a worker outreach strategy and product experience that meets the needs of the millions of individuals without a college degree who are skilled through alternative routes (STARs). By honing in on the significant data we’ve collected from a survey panel of more than 2,000 SkillUp users, we have enhanced our guided platform experience. We’ve also expanded to 14 regional markets and launched a STARSfocused remote jobs catalog

But these are just numbers. What’s most interesting to us is the journey: the learnings we’ve captured, the mistakes we’ve made, the course corrections we’ve had to take, the challenges confronted. Top among them, but by no means exclusive, are:

• Proving, with attribution and fidelity, that a user found a job because of SkillUp

• Handling the inherent tensions of evolving from a startup to a not quite mature three-year old organization

• Forging deep partnerships that foster mutual and collaborative benefits

Balancing these priorities is no easy task. Meanwhile, our economy and the societal pressures associated with the market continue to shift. But we are hopeful and our optimism is strong, thanks to our Coalition partners—100+ strong—who are working to solve complex problems with bold solutions. Our partners humble us, inspire us, and motivate us.

That is why, in alignment with such ambitions, SkillUp is announcing its own North Star, one that we’ve already been driving the past few months—to help 100,000 individuals secure highopportunity employment by 2025. It’s ambitious, we know. We estimate that we’re less than 20 percent of the way there. It will require us to engage many millions of workers and connect meaningfully with hundreds of thousands of them. It will require us to refine how we measure outcomes and work hand-in-hand with our friends and partners, to solve different aspects of what can be a long and arduous journey to high-opportunity employment.

We’re excited to see if we can measurably and sustainably lift families into career mobility at scale, and, most importantly, we’re thrilled to do this all in partnership with you! We know we cannot do this work alone. Our past accomplishments were possible thanks to the guidance, support, wisdom (and, yes, critiques) from our amazing Coalition partners. And whatever we may accomplish going forward will be the same. To our partners, workers, learners, and friends, we say thank you; let’s continue this collective journey together!

Steve Lee Chief Executive Officer

Josh Jarrett Executive Chair

We aim to help 100,000 individuals secure high-opportunity employment by

SkillUp Coalition Partners from JVS and Opportunity@Work join the SkillUp team on-site in San Francisco, June 2023.

SkillUp team members on-site at the Sylvester Greenwood Academy High School Career Fair, December 2022.

Who We Are & Why We’re Here

WHERE WE STARTED

During the pandemic, we saw an immediate need to support workers in learning to upskill and reskill at scale. SkillUp was created as a coalition of partners who shared the same vision—to help workers across the country find high–opportunity employment. More than three years later, with over 100 coalition partners and nearly 1.6 million workers supported, we remain committed to helping individuals realize their potential, explore the right path for them, make confident career shifts, and position themselves for career growth.

OUR MISSION

Provide a guided and supported path to ensure every worker has high-opportunity employment.

OUR PROMISE

Help people discover their potential, determine their career destination, and get there faster and more confidently with SkillUp.

OUR VISION

Every worker gains equity and dignity in the workforce through access to high-opportunity and quality employment.

OUR CORE PILLARS

Be About the Worker

Be a trusted resource that is attuned to the insights and needs of our workers by leveraging both quantitative and qualitative data to continuously improve their access to highopportunity careers.

Advance the Connected Infrastructure

Be a thought leader that bridges connections within the ecosystem, leveraging partnerships and existing solutions to enhance the worker experience through a connected continuity of care.

Attract, Engage,and Support

Be the premier source of personalized career advancement support at scale, with a heartfelt commitment to workers’ growth and success.

Be a Best Place to Work

Be a sustainable organization that cultivates a highperforming team, setting the standard for excellence in both partner and employee attraction, retention, and satisfaction.

SkillUp Team Retreat, June 2023

Our Coalition of Partners

SkillUp has a coalition of over 100 partners spanning training and education providers, tech firms, intermediaries, employers, and philanthropies nationwide.

Founding & Operating Guild

JFF Opportunity@Work

Funding

Ascendium

Bank Of America

Barclays

Bauer Foundation

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Catalyze Challenge

Charles Koch Foundation

Google.rg (Google)

Macquarie Foundation

New York Workers Fund

Opportunity Now Colorado

Schultz Family Foundation

Sobrato Family Foundation

Stand Together

State of Ohio

State of Washington

Strada Education

Tarsadia Foundation

The James Irvine Foundation

Truist Foundation

Victory Logistics

Walmart Foundation

Walton Family Foundation

Workday Foundation

Training

Apprenti

Array Education, Inc. (Opportunity College)

Austin Career Institute

ClimbHire

CompTIA Coursera

Creating Coding Careers

edX

ForgeNow Generation

i.c.Stars

JobTrain

MedCerts

Merit America

NPower

Ohio Means Jobs

PerScholas

Propel America

Pursuit

Simi Institute for Careers and Education

South Louisiana Community College

Technical Employment Training

Unmudl

Vasco Career College

Employer

Accenture/FutureofU *

Amazon Bender *

Bright Horizons *

Cloudera

CSAA*

Five Guys

Hamilton *

HCL Technologies *

HYATT

Jason’s Deli

Now Foods *

Renown Health *

Sunrun * Tech Elevator*

TTEC *

UC Health *

UKG* (Kronos, Inc)

Verizon *

Worthington Industries *

YAI *

YUPRO *

Localization

Bay Area

JVS Bay Area

Stellarworx

Dallas

Dallas College

Florida

Daytona State College

Florida Department of Education

Indian River State College

Seminole State College

Valencia College

Kentucky

SOAR

Los Angeles

Goodwill Southern California

Louisiana

Greater New Orleans Development Foundation

North Louisiana Economic Partnership

One Acadiana

Nevada

Economic Development Agency Western Nevada (EDAWN)

Western Nevada College

New York City

Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce

Ohio

Future Plans

The GRIT Project

Philadelphia

Philadelphia Works

Washington

Serve Washington Outreach & Research

BLS

CAEL CareerOneStop

CollegeApp

Education is Freedom

HOC

Lightcast (FKA Emsi/ Burning Glass)

MDRC

Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies

ONet

OneTen

SHRM

Strategic Education, Inc.

TGR Foundation

WhereWeGo

Working Nation Resource Project Em

InsideTrack

Social Capital Builders

*Earn & Learn partner

About Our Team

Success in our mission requires that we don’t just accept difference, but that we celebrate it and embrace the diverse community and backgrounds that individuals come from.

We recognize that diverse teams make the strongest teams, and we are building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors work diligently to bring subject matter expertise to the forefront and keep worker voice front and center in all that we do.

Emily M. Dickens

Chief of Staff and Head of Government Affairs, SHRM

Andre Bennin Managing Director, Rethink Education

Sarah Croft

Director of Product, Navigating Cancer

Benjamin Geyerhahn

CEO, Workers Benefits Fund

Maria Flynn

President & CEO, Jobs for the Future

Josh Jarrett

SkillUp Founder & Executive Chair, SVP Strategy, Wiley Des Lovell

VP Finance, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools

Who We Serve

More than 50% of workers in America are STARs—people Skilled Through Alternative Routes, instead of a bachelor’s degree. Our goal is to empower those individuals and other non-degree-holding workers across the country to elevate their careers through coaching, training, and career development.

SKILLUP USERS:

Race/Ethnicity

68% IDENTITY AS PEOPLE OF COLOR

SKILLUP USERS: Income

$10,000–$19,999 (13%)

of workers are paid hourly (34% also report “gig” wages)

$20,000–$29,999 (13%)

seek training in a new career field vs. their current field

$30,000–$39,999 (14%)

$1–$9,999 ( 25%)

77% HAVE AN ANNUAL INCOME LESS THAN $40,000

$40,000–$49,999 (8%)

don’t feel they can advance in their current role

Source for Illustration 1 (Top Left): CMS Profile Data (May–June 2023)

$50,000–$79,999 (11%)

$80,000+ (4%) $0 (12%)

Source for Illustration 2 (Bottom Left): Pulse Survey Wave II (Account created between June 1, 2022–May 31, 2023

Source for Data (Above): Pulse Survey Wave II (Account created between June 1, 2022–May 31, 2023)

SKILLUP USERS: Age

SKILLUP USERS: Gender 54%

SKILLUP USERS: Education

78% OF WORKERS HOLD LESS THAN A BACHELOR’S DEGREE

SKILLUP USERS: Work Experience Level

TEAR THE PAPER CEILING & HIRE STARS

SkillUp remains committed to supporting the efforts to promote inclusive hiring practices within our business and the larger community. We have proudly joined more than 30 corporate and nonprofit partners to champion the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign and the 50% of American workers who are STARs (Skilled Through Alternative Routes). This industry rally cry will continue to be an important public service announcement and ongoing component of our marketing and audience support.

Ever since I began utilizing

I have gained confidence in myself and my ability to be employed by the top companies in the country.”

O.

“ Being able to train in the time that I did was rigorous but worth it and it was really crucial for the next launch in my career. Now I’m doing something that I’m truly passionate about.”

Outreach & Growth

654,722

workers SUPPORTED

4,070

sessions of live CAREER COACHING

27%

of SkillUp users within the past six months COMPLETED TRAINING

33,509 USER PROFILES created

37%

of SkillUp users secured within the past six months NEW

JOBS

VERY HELPFUL WATCH MORE

>50% EXTREMELY HELPFUL

50+

WORKER ADVISORY members joining monthly advisory panel sessions

CAMEILE M. SKILLUP ADVOCATE, PER SCHOLAS GRADUATE

Careers, Training, Jobs, & Resources

SkillUp is the source—simple and streamlined specifically for STARs—for high-quality, in-demand careers, training programs, and jobs, at scale. Our platform aims to remove the noise for our users (eliminating bad careers, low quality training programs, irrelevant job postings) while still providing choice and personalization.

Our comprehensive career platform is built for workers:

• Supporting them in finding high-opportunity careers that don’t require a degree.

• Presenting more than 30 good-wage careers with insight into salary, advancement opportunities and “day in the life of” responsibilities.

• Sourcing 1,500+ high-quality training programs that can be completed in less than 12-months and all for less than $10,000; 80% of programs are under $4,999.

• Connecting 15,000+ vetted, open roles that meet our highest job standards and do not require a degree. More than 5,000 are fully remote opportunities.

A Guided Experience Helps Workers Explore Careers

My Path allows workers to create a unique, bespoke, and personalized experience for career exploration. My Path builds a customized experience with specific and guided milestones for users and provides them with next steps and recommendations based on what they’re searching for. With integrated career, training, job, and resource catalogs, users can save and share resources and find national, remote, and regional career opportunities.

Our platform offers 150+ additional resources including:

• Job tip videos

• Career coaching resources

• Local housing , childcare, and transportation resources

• Veteran, Senior, Youth, and LGBTQ+ connections

TOP USER CLICKS

TOP 5 TRAINING PROGRAMS

TOP 5 CAREERS

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

PRODUCT EXPERIENCE

In partnership with WhereWeGo, we have been able to customize our platform experience to leverage career navigator technology and custom development. WhereWeGo is an EdTech and Design Thinking company based in New Orleans that increases access to careers, credentials, and credits.

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

CAREER COACHING

In partnership with InsideTrack, we offer free, bi-weekly career coaching sessions on topics spanning from interview best practices and developing a growth mindset to clarifying what to look for in your next role. Since this partnership first launched in 2020, we have supported over 10,000 coaching participants.

“ This is a place upskillers can come back to time and time again to retool, restructure, and dream about new roles as the life of their career twists and turns. I envision this being a true one-stop shop that serves anyone no matter where they are in their career.”

TWANNETTA W. SKILLUP FLORIDA ADVOCATE, SEMINOLE COLLEGE DIGITAL MARKETING GRADUATE

1. IT SUPPORT

1. QUALITY ASSURANCE ANALYST

2. AWS RE/START

2. MEDICAL RECORDS SPECIALIST

3. FULL STACK JAVA DEVELOPMENT

3. SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

4. MEDICAL BILLING & CODING

4. WEB DEVELOPER

5. HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPER

5. SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE

Localization Partners

Leveraging Local Expertise

We continue to partner with regional experts across the country, who know and understand their job market, in order to source local training providers and identify the highestopportunity career paths for workers within these communities. Our localized partnerships bring the best of SkillUp’s resources together with an emphasis on local labor markets, worker needs, and community connections to serve both local workers and regional economies.

SkillUp has launched a total of 14 local partnerships in:

Atlanta, GA* · Bay Area, CA · Chicago, IL* · Dallas, TX

Denver, CO* · Detroit, MI* · Eastern Kentucky* · Florida

Los Angeles, CA · Louisiana · New York City, NY

Northern Nevada · Ohio · Philadelphia, PA

*New regions added

SkillUp will be launching new local partnerships before the end of the year in:

Charlotte, NC · Phoenix, AZ · Washington D.C.

“ SkillUp Bay Area had a huge part in guiding me and making me feel like I was not alone. I received a lot of support in the coaching program, and I felt like they were walking me through the next steps to make sure that I was going to be okay.”

CARMEN M. SKILLUP BAY AREA ADVOCATE, CAREER COACHING PARTICIPANT

PARTNER SPOTLIGHTS

Employer Partners

Earn & Learn Partners

Our Earn & Learn program helps workers better connect with carefully vetted jobs to grow their skills while continuing to earn a living wage without the need for training or prior experience. The opportunity to earn good pay and full-time benefits while building their skills is powerful. Our 16 employers provide on-the-job training plus upskilling opportunities that can lead to a certificate of value, industry-recognized credentials, or a higher education degree.

REMOTE JOBS & TRAINING

In partnership with the Truist Foundation and the $1.5 million grant we were awarded, we’ve developed our remote jobs catalog to provide increased access to remote work. This catalog surfaces thousands of high-quality remote jobs, particularly for job seekers without a college degree and living in rural areas, making previously unattainable employment a possibility. It also levels the playing field between rural and urban areas with high-paying and high-skilled work.

SUPPORTING BLACK TALENT

In partnership with OneTen, we aim to empower and support the need for a diverse workforce through the placement of Black talent into jobs that companies need. By addressing unmet business needs, helping candidates find fulfilling employment, and allowing more individuals to transition into careers with familysustaining wages, inclusive work culture is within reach.

CHANGE AT SCALE

In partnership with JFF, a founding member of SkillUp Coalition, we are committed to changing the system at scale and will work closely to support the organizations commitment to supporting 75 million people facing systematic barriers to advancement over the next 10 years. We also thank and recognize JFF CEO, Maria Flynn, for her ongoing commitment to our work as a founding and active SkillUp Board Director.

Continuing the Learning Agenda

Our motto is to “ Invent Nothing.” We work to fail fast, learn quickly, iterate and improve rapidly, and start the process over. By gleaning real-life, real-time insights from the nearly 1.6 million workers we’ve served, we can turn data into action and insights into better, more interconnected learnings and solutions to support more workers. We’re expanding our efforts through:

PULSE SURVEY WORKER INSIGHTS

Quantitative and qualitative data builds trust and credibility.

The Pulse Survey gives us insights into worker behavior with access to a survey panel of upwards of 2,000 panel members. This data shows us the most pressing issues for workers across the country and the efficacy of stakeholders across the ecosystem to provide meaningful support and worker opportunities. Because we survey panel members on a quarterly basis, we can collect longitudinal data over time; from search, to employment, to retention, and beyond. This is the first survey of its kind to exist to date in the workforce and education sector, and we believe, if done well and at scale, we can help more workers find promising and high-opportunity career opportunities and have their voices inform policy, programmatic, and funding decisions.

USER DATA & PRODUCT EXPERIENCE Connected continuity of care means better outcomes for job seekers.

To do so, we need to understand connected data points as they can help us discover how successful employment placements are as we continue to place tens of thousands of workers in good-wage jobs. We are currently collecting data on different touchpoints throughout a worker’s job-seeking journey, including coaching, resume building, and interviewing, to see which direct support services impact employment outcomes and are the most effective. This learning agenda doesn’t exist in the broader workforce ecosystem at scale, and if we can share these learnings and bridge connections with employers, higher education, and government, we can inform what works and what doesn’t for the greatest impact.

MARKET RESEARCH

A dedicated focus group to leverage learning.

This panel is made up of workers at various stages of their career, education, and professional development journeys who share their experiences and help to inform and guide our user-first approach in all that we do and create. Workers who participate as part of the panel receive compensation, impact our product and marketing strategies, and have the opportunity to network and connect with other workers who are exploring career changes.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Assessing new technology and generative AI.

As new tools enter the market, we remain committed to discovering and evaluating where and how these resources will best support our users and staff. This could look like a chatbot replacing set ‘tasks’ in our platform and having generative AI create new tasks specific to each user. It could also look like generative AI writing personalized content for jobs/training postings so when a user clicks on any job/training they see how it relates to their specific interests, location, and skills. Or it could be a coach specifically trained in helping users grow their communication and social capital skills as they move through their career journeys.

Youth Campaign Learnings Spotlight

Our youth campaign learnings support multiple partner initiatives focused on expanding career pathways for youth ages 16-24. These partnerships include expanding the overall reach of youth as well as building increased awareness for alternative pathways to college. We’ve seen:

• Over 9 million ad impressions via youth-focused campaigns

• A 35% increase in youth traffic, with youth now representing 25% of SkillUp users

• Google Paid Search and Organic Search as top drivers of youth traffic, with Google Paid resulting in 2x the conversions compared to Facebook and Instagram

• Most viewed pages and themes for youth:

• Technology Careers

• Earn & Learn Jobs

• Remote Jobs & Training

• Apprenticeship Programs

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

DALLAS YOUTH APPRENTICESHIPS PILOT

In partnership with YUPRO & Opportunity College Dallas, SkillUp Dallas is offering Texas youth ages 18-24 the opportunity to break into high-paying tech careers via a free fourmonth virtual IT training program followed by a paid six-month apprenticeship. Participants will graduate with a Google IT Support Certificate, with the goal being for every student to receive a full-time contract or permanent job offer at the completion of their apprenticeship. Additionally, we are partnering with Education is Freedom in Dallas, Texas, and high school educators and counselors, to bring our SkillUp Dallas experience and resources to more than 6,000 graduating high school seniors.

SOCIAL CAPITAL COACHING PILOT

In partnership with Social Capital Builders, we are looking to further connect job seekers to the resources and skills they need to develop social and networking connections. This innovative new pilot aims to help low-wage adult job seekers eager to apply their job skills to a new career build their social capital through training and coaching. The goal is to ultimately scale this training to meet on-demand offerings.

“ SkillUp has taught me how to build social capital with important people in my desired career, which will help me find hidden job opportunities in different industries and organizations.”

MATTHEW D. SKILLUP ADVOCATE, SOCIAL CAPITAL BUILDER TRAINEE

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT

2022 Audited Financials

Grant Revenue

Unrestricted: $2,206,674

Restricted: $4,613,680

TOTAL SUPPORT: $6,820,354

Expenses

Management & General $252,598

Program Services $4,912,613

Fundraising $468,742

TOTAL FUNCTIONAL EXPENSES $5,633,953

The Future of SkillUp 2023–2025

Paramount to SkillUp’s future, it’s crucial that we have a clear outcomes strategy; that is, that SkillUp prove—with fidelity, a sound logic model, and quantitative data—that it was instrumental in helping a user secure high-opportunity employment .

Though still in exploration phase, strategies include Learning & Employment Records (LERs), integration with employerdriven platforms like OneTen and Stellarworx, wage data through Equifax , self-reported outcomes, enhanced survey capabilities with larger sample sizes, and other methods. It’s crucial that we get this right.

But as we look to the future, it’s important to keep building on our user insights and worker data across the entire user journey to better understand the most pressing issues facing workers across the country and determine which supports and services most impact employment outcomes.

Additionally, we’re ready to push a data-backed learning agenda—something we believe is missing in the broader workforce ecosystem at scale, particularly for low-wage workers, workers without college degrees, and workers who have felt disenfranchised from the labor market. These learnings will help to educate and inform where employers, government, and higher education should allocate their resources and where they shouldn’t.

Ultimately, our vision is to create a Digital Public Good where our data, standards, content, and learnings are open-sourced to the broader community for free as a means to contribute to the broader conversation around upskilling Americans into better jobs. We want to continue to lift up the worker voice and ensure that every worker has high-opportunity employment, which, we believe, is our distinct contribution to the workforce ecosystem.

None of this work will come easy. We may fail, and we will be upfront about that, but our team, staff, and board are pumped to try. And our Coalition partners—100+ strong—who are trying to solve complex problems with bold solutions continue to inspire us, motivate us, and give us hope with their incredible efforts as seen from our partners spotlighted throughout this report, Opportunity@Work, Jobs for the Future, Social Capital Builders, OneTen, and more.

So we will continue to be inspired to do this work—anchored by our core value of being “ Data-Driven, Heart Led.” And we will keep working in partnership with our Coalition partners, workers, learners, and friends because we are on this collective journey together, and it’s our collaborative effort that will keep us going strong today, tomorrow, and well into the future.

We aim to help 100,000 individuals secure high-opportunity employment by 2025.

WHY WE ARE POISED TO DO THIS WORK

• We have an easy-to-use platform curated for workers and built to learn and improve, including four product revisions since our launch in 2020

• We have a guided pathway with multiple Training and Job options and supports that are available everywhere

• We Guide (through tailored pathways), Learn (through data), Improve (testing and re-testing), Mobilize (reach the masses), Invite (tailored messaging), Inspire (personalized experience), Listen (continuous improvement)

• We are an organization whose principles are rooted in being worker first:

Be About the Worker

Attract, Engage, & Support

Advance the Connected Infrastructure

Be a Best Place to Work

Be Data-Diven, Heart Led

Be Always Learning

Embrace Partnerships for Collective & Transformative Effect

Be Firm in our Mission & Principles, and Always Act with Humility, Grace, and have a Listening Mindset

Tear the Paper Ceiling

In the News

LISTEN

READ

READ Harvard Business School: Managing the Future of Work

SkillUp Expands its Reach with the Launch of Newest Site, SkillUp Denver

Supporting In-Demand Jobs: Opportunity Now Colorado Grant Recipients

READ

Innovative Pilot Program to Help LowWage Job Seekers Build Social Capital

LISTEN

AUHSD Future Talks: Steve Lee

READ

SkillUp Coalition Receives $1.5M Grant from Truist Foundation

SkillUp Launches Platform to Support Dallas Job Seekers Ages 16-24

READ

READ SkillUp and Jobs for the Future Release Earn and Learn Toolkit

WATCH Building an Equitable Workforce: How Can We End Occupational Segregation?

READ

SkillUp Partners with OneTen to Drive Economic Prosperity for Black Talent

WATCH

SXSW EDU 2023: Moving “Good” Jobs from Theory to Practice

VIEW MORE SKILLUP NEWS