Success Built on Partnerships

Training, Inc. continues to seek partner relationships with employers, funders, government agencies and community-based organizations in order to leverage maximum services for communities. 

Local Partners 

Training, Inc.’s success is based on strong partnerships with community employers, funders, volunteers, and local resource agencies.   The links below provide a sample of these relationships.  

Key to our network's strength are our program sponsors, who include the YMCA of Greater Boston, YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Essex County College in Newark, Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis, and the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA.

We're fortunate to have over 500 business partner relationships built over our 30-year history, with organizations such as Adecco, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, John Leonard Employment Services, Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), the State of Indiana and Verizon.

Business partnerships at each local site include active volunteer engagement programs for partner employees.  This involvement of volunteers ensures that our programs continue to deliver a productive and valuable workforce.  They benefit our employer partners by increasing the community profile and by offering valuable opportunities for staff leadership development.

In addition, local public and private funders have made it possible for Training, Inc. sites to serve more than 18,000 graduates as they pursue better jobs and self-sufficiency.  Long-term supporters included private organizations such as the Victoria Foundation, Prudential Foundation, the John Merck Fund, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, and United Way of Central Indiana.  Government funders include the Chicago Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, the Pittsburgh Partnership, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, the City of Boston - Economic Development Industrial Corporation, and the Essex County Department of Economic Development, Training and Employment.


National Partners 

National private foundations have supported Training, Inc. National Association's initiatives to research graduate outcomes, document "essential practices", replicate effective programs, and create useful performance management systems.   These funders include:

The Ford Foundation

The F. B. Heron Foundation

The Joyce Foundation

Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Stark Mersfelder Foundation

Training, Inc. was also a major grantee of an IBM Workforce Development initiative, receiving grants of computer equipment in several of its local sites and securing IBM's largest national workforce development grant of hardware, software, and technical assistance to create a national database and resource-sharing capacity for the national network.

Training, Inc. works closely with other national organizations to promote quality workforce development practices as well as public policies that support investment in skill building for workers.    These organizations point to Training, Inc.’s strategies as examples of "job training that works":

Public/Private Ventures-Working Ventures
P/PV Working Ventures’ mission is to improve the performance of the workforce development field by tapping the wisdom of experienced programs and professionals.  Their reports, guidebooks, learning labs and conferences are highly regarded as a resource for other practitioners, and Training, Inc. programs are frequently recognized for effective practice in the areas of improving participant soft skills, building strong employer relationships, and working with outcome data.   This partnership with P/PV also helps Training, Inc. achieve its mission of sharing practices that “work” with the larger field.

The Workforce Alliance
The Workforce Alliance is a national coalition of local leaders advocating for federal policies that invest in the skills of America’s workers so they can better support their families and help American businesses better compete within today’s economy.  Training, Inc. is one of the organizations recognized by TWA as a “good investment” of government dollars.  Training, Inc. staff are actively involved in TWA activities at the state and national levels.