St. Louis Selected for the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy
Partnership with the National League of Cities and Department of Labor Strives to Create New Jobs
St. Louis, Mo. (July 11, 2023) – After a competitive application process led by the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC), the City of St. Louis was chosen to join the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy. A partnership between The National League of Cities (NLC) and the Department of Labor (DOL) to accelerate city efforts to design, develop and launch a workforce initiative to build pathways into good jobs, the peer-learning cohort is an opportunity to bring infrastructure, clean energy and advanced manufacturing jobs to St. Louis.
“Good-paying jobs for St. Louisans strengthen our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “St. Louis is excited to join this cohort of cities to help strengthen our workforce development initiatives and bring better opportunities to our city.”
The Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy works with municipalities to spur innovative and scalable city-supported solutions that upskill and reskill workers into quality, high-demand jobs made possible by investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for St. Louis to leverage jobs created through unprecedented federal investments and catalyze them for long-term economic advancement,” said Neal Richardson, President & CEO of SLDC. “Through the Academy, we will focus on job opportunities that support residents from historically underserved and underrepresented communities to address shortcomings in the education and workforce ecosystem.”
The Academy will provide its 16-member cohort with in-depth technical assistance to accelerate each city’s efforts to design, develop and launch new workforce initiatives. St. Louis will receive direct coaching and support from NLC and DOL to address the structural issues many groups of workers face in accessing good jobs while also learning how to strengthen municipal policy and practice by intentionally building connections to supportive services for workers. Participation will culminate in the launch of new or expanded training programs in St. Louis that place workers in quality jobs in partnership with local workforce development boards like SLATE, employers, education and training providers and other community stakeholders.
St. Louis is joined by 15 other cities in the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy:
Birmingham, AL
Chattanooga, TN
Duluth, MN
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Frederick, MD
Jamestown, NY
Kokomo, IN
Lansing, MI
Missoula, MT
Monroe, NC
Newark, NJ
San Antonio, TX
Santa Fe, NM
Tacoma, WA
Tempe, AZ
The program will run through 2024.
