Since 2020, UMA and The Century Foundation have been uniting manufacturing leaders through the Industry & Inclusion (I&I) Initiative to inspire local knowledge exchange and action with the goal of developing the local manufacturing workforce ecosystem. I&I helps workforce and education practitioners engage with one another and pilot new strategies, rooted in best practices, to make manufacturing hiring more dynamic by bringing in workers from populations historically underrepresented in the sector.

For this cohort, I&I is uniting leaders in a region of the country where federal investment has accelerated renewable energy and advanced manufacturing, and where there’s a growing need to connect underrepresented communities to well-paying jobs. That region is the American South. Participants in this cohort include organizations from Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.