September 25, 2017 – For Immediate Release
Innovate+Educate

Contact:
Nicole Tipton, Director of Marketing
[email protected]

Michele Chang, Vice President, Programs and Services
[email protected]

Hope Street Group and Innovate+Educate Formalize Partnership to Advance Innovative Business Hiring Council (IBHC2020)

CHICAGO, IL— Two national nonprofits, Innovate+Educate (I+E) and Hope Street Group, today announced the launch of the Innovative Business Hiring Council 2020 (IBHC2020). This effort will build on the already strong relationship between the two organizations as well as their unified vision around shifting employer hiring, training and advancement strategies to focus on skills and competencies.

The IBHC2020 will be a unique, employer-driven Council of companies across industries who are focused on shifting their talent acquisition and development models, with an emphasis on implementing competency-based solutions, sharing their findings with others, and receiving technical assistance from like-minded corporate partners. The Council will work with companies across the services (retail, hospitality, food service), healthcare, IT, cybersecurity and financial sectors to identify effective competency-based talent sourcing models and support these companies in shifting their practices.

“The Council and our partnership with Hope Street Group is very exciting for Innovate+Educate,” stated Jamai Blivin, CEO of Innovate+Educate. “We know that competency-based hiring and advancement approaches ‘filter in’ talent for companies, rather than ‘filter out.’ Together with Hope Street Group, we can provide the framework, solutions and technical assistance to employers to enable this shift in talent strategies.”

The impetus for IBHC2020 is the sustainability portion of a grant to I+E in 2016 from the Rockefeller Foundation. The grant was to support a community of employers around a framework assess, hire, train, advance. Innovate+Educate launched the IBHC in February 2017, which was comprised of business leaders who were responsible for developing and implementing the people strategy in top companies across industries.

At the time, the group focused on identifying and leveraging innovative, competency-based learning and hiring solutions to improve economic mobility for candidates and incumbents and increase the hiring/selection ROI for employers. Several organizations that were a part of that first IBHC have agreed to continue their leadership roles and bring new companies to the Council, continuing the focus on hiring and talent development based on skills and competencies. The companies will continue to promote the strategies and outcomes that promote a more diverse workforce and positively impacts their people ROI. IBHC 2020 will consist of top Fortune 500 companies from retail, hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, technology (IT) and financial services.

“As we look at effective ways to better match the skills needs of employers with a workforce that can meet those needs, this shift to competency-based talent sourcing is critical and gaining momentum,” said Martin Scaglione, President and CEO of Hope Street Group. “This partnership with Innovate+Educate provides a transformational opportunity to bring employers to the table to consider and advocate for competency-based approaches that are succeeding in meeting skills needs, strengthening workforce diversity and creating a career path for workers that offers greater economic opportunity for themselves and their families.”

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About Innovate+Educate:
I+E is a national nonprofit implementing evidence-based, employer-led strategies to drive competency- based training and hiring for in-demand jobs. Their vision is to create multiple pathways to employment, and their focus is on industry-driven solutions to education and employment. www.Innovate-Educate.org.

About Hope Street Group:
Hope Street Group is a national non-profit focused on ensuring every American has access to economic opportunity through education, training and a career path that offers advancement and income growth. Hope Street Group’s “Sync Our Signals” is changing the way companies and organizations source and hire talent by improving the signaling between employers, education and workers on the skills and competencies needed for success and career advancement.